


Dance the Devil

by MoonRiver



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alex Mercer Needs a Hug (Julie and The Phantoms), Angst, BAMF Alex Mercer, BAMF Ray Molina, Bobby | Trevor Wilson Backstory, Bobby | Trevor Wilson Redemption, Captivity, F/M, Ghost Powers, Good Parent Ray Molina, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Past Alex Mercer/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Past Child Abuse, Protective Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie & Ray friendship, Reggie Peters Backstory (Julie and The Phantoms), Season 2 Speculation, The Hollywood Ghost Club (Julie and The Phantoms), Whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:28:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 78,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29071800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonRiver/pseuds/MoonRiver
Summary: Taking place right after season 1 ends, when Julie helps the phantoms lift the curse they not only feel stronger but their ghost powers are stronger too. If only they knew how to use them because Caleb is still after them and more vengeful than ever.Willie's in trouble for helping the band, Alex discovers just how dangerous the Hollywood Ghost Club truly is, Luke is desperate to protect Julie at all costs, and Reggie struggles with his past as he becomes intertwined with the Molinas when Ray discovers there's more to his daughter's hologram band than meets the eye.The band find themselves in a new and even more dangerous dance with the devil, only this time Julie's soul is on the line too.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 150
Kudos: 161





	1. Tomorrow's Problem

_watching the chances scatter and fall  
and spinning the wheel  
cause you've lost control  
and we can dance, dance the poison  
right out of your soul  
and we can dance, dance the devil  
back into his hole_  
  
-"Dance the Devil Back Into His Hole" The Frames

The four teenagers were buzzing with energy as their hug finally broke apart. They were all smiles and tears, each exchanging individual hugs with Julie before they looked around the studio, seeming to realize at last that they were truly at home. They were _safe_.

The three phantoms looked so relieved, and Julie couldn’t have been more elated. The past few weeks had been such a whirlwind, leaving her feeling constantly on edge. Seeing the stamps fade from their arms, seeing their now tangible bodies lit with that golden glow, lighting up their faces so beautifully, it was like she could breathe again.

Only…Reggie still looked a bit too shaken, Alex too anxious and Luke looked _exhausted_. Behind their smiles they looked wrecked, and her heart twisted as she wondered if they had been hiding just how much pain they had been in under Caleb’s curse.

They were _so_ overdue for a band heart to heart.

But first thing’s first…

“I need to talk to Carlos,” Julie announced. “I think he’s figured out the truth about you guys.”

Alex and Reggie exchanged guilty looks before the bassist slowly slid behind the drummer. Quickly retaliating, Alex pulled him by the arm and forced him to take a step toward Julie with him.

“Yeah, he has,” Alex confessed. “Reggie decided to play ghost pranks on him and your aunt.”

Julie sighed, trying to hide her frustration, knowing it wasn’t what they needed right now.

“I’m sorry!” Reggie tried, crossing his arms in defense. “But you know what it’s like to be a kid and have no one believe you!”

She couldn’t help but to notice the sympathetic looks from his bandmates, and she couldn’t help but to picture little Reggie, likely claiming of monsters under his bed and aliens. But a pit fell in her stomach as she thought of how easily her dad and aunt had ruled out Carlos’ ghost theory, even though Julie had said that first night that she saw ghosts too.

“Kind of like how they’re not going to believe it when they find out my hologram band is actually a ghost band from 1995?” She shot.

“Yeah…” Luke spoke up, carefully stepping forward. “It’s not just that he thought there were ghost out here, he knows exactly who we were. He must have found the CD.”

Pressing her hands against her eyes she let them momentarily fall close, realizing then just how tired she was. It had been endless stress this week, endless worry and anxious thoughts that at any moment, the boys might be torn from her. The idea that their souls were being taken over by Caleb, that the evil ghost might destroy them even more than death already had, it shook her to the core. All she wanted was just one happy night of celebration.

Was that really too much to ask?

“I’ll talk to him,” she finally sighed.

It was way past Carlos’ usual bedtime, and she half expected to find him passed out under the covers when she knocked on his door. But he answered, offering her an uncharacteristically shy smile as he let her in.

“Dad went to bed,” Carlos assured her. “I didn’t tell him anything.”

Their eyes met, and they both knew she knew that he knew.

“You don’t have to explain everything,” Carlos offered quickly. “It wasn’t hard to find out about them online. They…they really are dead, aren’t they?”

Julie nodded, her heart breaking at the sadness that filled her brother’s eyes. She sank next to him on his bed and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. He was so young and had already lost so much, it wasn’t fair that he was this close to death. It wasn’t even fair that she was. But she had never intended for him to get mixed up in this.

“They were only a year older than you,” her brother whispered.

“Yeah,” Julie whispered back. “Carlos, I…I really don’t have any explanations. They just sort of appeared in the studio one day. They used to practice out there.”

He lifted an eyebrow, questioning how convenient that coincidence was; she decided to leave out the part where at least one of them lived out there. She still wasn’t sure if the other two did, now that she thought about it.

“I know it’s crazy,” she admitted, responding to his skepticism “like I said, I don’t have many answers. They think they’re here to figure out their unfinished business so that they can crossover.”

Her own words didn’t even make sense to her, but she was too exhausted to go into any more detail than this right now.

Carlos blinked.

“Crossover?” 

“To Heaven,” she told him, then shrugged, “hopefully.”

At that her younger brother’s eyes lit up, and she realized it seemed to ease him, the idea of an actual Heaven.

“I heard you ask them to say hi to mom, if they see her,” he admitted.

_Oh._

“Yeah, they said they haven’t seen her here. I think that must mean…”

“Crossover.”

She nodded, and he smiled and placed a hand over one of hers, and she grasped it. Going through their mother’s death together had brought them closer than she could have imagined, it was like for the first time she saw him not as a little kid but as a _person_ , a human being that felt every bit of pain and anxiety she felt. Then after her mother died it was like all that was cut loose. She had felt so loss, so unsure of how to process her grief or if she even wanted to. She was living in limbo, and Julie knew it hadn’t been fair to Carlos to cut him out like that.

“I know it’s hard to understand,” Julie spoke up, “and there’s…there’s just been so much. I don’t want you to get too involved, okay? And please, _please_ you can’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t.”

He had never sounded so sincere, and she smiled this time, realizing that a new leaf had just turned in their brother-sister relationship.

“It’s our secret,” Carlos announced. “That is, until whenever dad finds out that three teenage ghost boys have been living in his garage and hanging out with you all the time, then it’s your funeral, not mine.”

His eyes twinkled as he dared to make that kind of joke right now, and Julie couldn’t help but to roll hers and give him a playful shove. But deep down, she knew he was right, and part of her worried…if they were tangible now, was it only to her? Was it only when she touched them? Could her dad be wondering out to the garage right now, looking for her, only to find the three teenage boys in her band right there and _not_ in Sweden?

Then it dawned on her.

Crap.

It was going to be time to tell him too.

She knew Carlos was loyal, but he was still at his heart an over-excited hyper kid who could easily let something slip up without meaning to. For damage control’s sake, it would be better to tell her dad on her own terms than him…finding out.

Just the thought of him finding the boys without her made her wince, and suddenly all the relief from anxiety that she felt earlier swept away as her body tensed again and all the worst thoughts pelted her brain.

God did she need sleep.

“I’ll tell him,” she promised, “but it’s been a long night, for all of us.”

Curiosity crept over her brother’s face, and she knew he wanted to ask all kinds of questions about how ghosts could feel tired. Then suddenly he yawned, and his tired eyes told her he was done for the night. Shaking her head, she smiled and forced away all of her anxiety as she helped him climb into bed and tucked him in, something she hadn’t done in _ages_. As he offered her a grateful smile, she couldn’t help but to think of a little Luke, who would have been tucked in by his mother so many times just like this, and it broke her. She wouldn’t admit how often those struck her, the day-to-day things that she got to experience and do with her family and friends that they would never get to do again.

“Are they okay?” Carlos asked suddenly.

She frowned, wondering if he was somehow able to read her mind.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…ghosts are usually sad, right? Unfinished business and all?”

Reaching out she stroke his hair, just as her mother used to do.

“They’re okay,” she replied softly.

When she thought about, while she had met Luke’s parents Alex and Reggie had never even mentioned theirs. They never even elaborated on what their unfinished business could possibly be if not the Orpheum. She couldn’t get their scared, worried looks out of their mind or the relief they all felt when the curse was lifted.

No, she wasn’t sure it was fair to say they were okay at all.

But just for tonight, she pleaded silently, please let them be okay. Just give us one night.

She kissed him gently on the forehead and as she lifted up, noted his phone on the nightstand.

“Oh,” she realized, “and no posting about this anywhere. Not even anonymously. Carlos?”

He was snoring, and she knew that he couldn’t have fallen asleep that quickly.

“Carlos!” She demanded, playfully shaking him.

Finally she threw her a goofy grin, eyes still closed.

“Promise.”

A sigh of relief left her. Her body felt absolutely drained as she stood, running her hands over her face. She wanted nothing more than to take a warm shower, change into something much more comfortable, and climb into her own bed. Briefly she considered returning to the garage to say goodnight, but she also felt that goodnight had been implied and assumed by now the guys would be out celebrating…however ghosts celebrated after playing once in a life time gigs.

She grinned as she waltzed down the hallway toward her room.

_I played the Orpheum!_

But when she opened her bedroom door, her bed was already occupied. She shook her head in disbelief, even as her smile lingered. On the far edge, closest to the window, Reggie was turned on his side, looking very much actually sleep. Alex lay in the middle, his arms over his face, totally still. And Luke, Luke sat closest to the door, sitting up as he gazed over them, with this look in his eye like… _what do I do now?_

He turned toward her carefully as she pushed the door opened and a lopsided grin fell across his face as he pressed a finger to his lips.

“Are they actually sleeping?” She whispered as she wrapped her arms around herself and tiptoed toward the bed, making sure to close and lock her door as she did.

“I dunno,” Luke whispered back with a shrug. “I think they’re just…ghost tired.”

They shared a quiet laugh before Luke took her hands, sending a shiver up her spine, and pulled her down beside him. The bed was way too small for this, and she was slightly concerned it might actually snap in half under their weight.

But…they were ghosts.

“This is my bed!” Julie hissed. “What if my dad sees you?!”

His gentle eyes silenced her as he lay on his side facing her, bringing her hands to his chest. Usually, she had always noted a sort of coldness around the boys, it was almost like an automatic defense. _Stay away. Leave me be. I’m cursed._ She was constantly fighting to help them break that barrier. But this…this was warmer. Welcoming.

“That’s a tomorrow problem,” Luke told her softly.

For the second time that night she longed to kiss him, but as his fingers rubbed over her knuckles and they settled down into the pillows, she knew it was enough right now just to be held.

“Go to sleep, Boss,” he whispered.

At last, in his arms, she felt her body relax for the first time in days and her eyes flutter shut as she sank into a much overdue rest.

Trevor wasn’t sure how he made it back home after the Orpheum.

He was vaguely aware of Carrie complaining to him during a entire limo ride home, about how the hell did Julie get to play the Orpheum before she did? Did he have any idea how bad this would make her group look that she was Trevor Wilson’s daughter and Julie had five minutes in the spot light and was already well on her way to booking local tours?

Closing his eyes, Trevor did his best to tune her out as he willed himself to not be sick right then and there. It had been hard enough just physically being back at that place. The last place he had seen his three best friends alive. The place where his life had changed forever, where he lost the core of who he was. The place that started off the chain of events, that led to…whatever this life was that he had now. Borderline has-been Rockstar. Washed up recovering addict.

 _The Orpheum…_ never before had something that could have gone so right go so wrong.

It was hard enough to even look at the building, let alone be inside. See the stage. He wanted believe he had been seeing things when Carrie showed him the video, but that night he had watched it over and over and over again until it was time to leave. It was clear as day…somehow, they were back.

Luke. Alex. Reggie.

Names he buried in the back of his mind, from a life he had tried to erase completely.

He had assumed the haunting prank had been Carrie’s doing. Nick, she had said, loved horror movies and kept trying to convince her to watch the classics. It was surely just something they did, and he thought the worst that had happened was that his daughter found out about his past and it would finally be time for _the talk_.

But they were there. They looked exactly the same. Reggie’s goofy smile, Alex looking ever so slightly anxious when they began but easing into nothing less than extraordinary, the passion in Luke’s voice. The only thing that had changed was those ridiculous tuxes they wore.

And Luke had _flickered_.

He had looked terrified, helpless, mirroring when he and Rose had found them that night, crying out in pain in the dressing room. Mirrored his eyes in the ambulance, staring desperately at his friends as they lay side by side….Reggie, already gone so fast.

Trevor never even got to say goodbye.

That’s when he knew, it really hadn’t been Carrie haunting him that day.

They were back…and if they were back then they must have known what he did.

And if they were ghosts…well, ghosts didn’t exactly come back to make friends, did they? Luke wasn’t exactly someone you wanted to cross as a 17 year old boy, let alone as a pissed off ghost.

“Dad!” Carrie whined as he threw his keys down on a table and shrug off his coat. “You’re not even listening to me!”

“Carrie!” He stopped, startling her. He even surprised himself, it really wasn’t often that he raised his voice at her. But sometimes…sometimes she pushed too much. “Not everything’s about you!”

They both stopped, hurt flashed across her face and even he was paralyzed. He hated to admit how much he had let his only daughter walk over him sometimes…and he knew she tended to be a bit of a mean girl. He really hadn’t meant to shout, but he really didn’t have the energy or headspace for this right now.

Thankfully the hurt quickly melted from her face and she rolled her eyes. Crossed her arms. Turned on her heels in a huff.

Typical.

Closing his eyes, Trevor heard his therapist’s instructions in his head…

Breathe in…

Out…

In…

Out…

Distractions.

Five things he could see.

Opening his eyes, Trevor looked around, noting his keys on the table, a photo of him and Carrie from years before on the wall, a vase of Dalilah flowers by the door…

Rose’s favorite, he heard Ray’s voice echo, flashing back to the day of Julie’s mom’s funeral. Her casket lay under the glow of the funeral home lights, illuminating the vases of Dahlias around her. Ray had insisted Trevor took some home with him, in Rose’s honor. Ever since that day he kept a fresh vase by the door, as though welcoming her spirit in if she ever needed a place to haunt.

But it wasn’t Rose that needed a place to haunt.

There was a burning inside his stomach suddenly, a desperate need that he forced himself to ignore. He could practically smell a nice, _cold_ , glass of whiskey, practically feel the rush of the effects of the drugs rushing through his system.

“No,” he whispered.

The world seemed to crash in on him as he lowered himself to the ground, back against the wall, not so certain he wouldn’t just kill over if he didn’t sit down himself. He dropped his head into his hands, willing himself to _breathe_.

 _“Wiggle your fingers,”_ he heard Luke gently instructing Alex. _“That’s what the therapist said, remember? Um…senses. What can you smell?”_

There had been countless accounts just like that, where they had eased Alex out of a panic, or eased Luke out of a rage, or tried to get Reggie to talk. Trevor had always tried to be the strong one. He was the stable one, the one with the best home life, the one with a house he didn’t feel like he had to run away from or unsafe in.

Anything he seemed to try only made his chest tighten more, his breathing more erratic.

“Dad?” Carrie’s voice spoke up sharply.

Shit.

He really had hoped she’d just go up to bed. Weakly he looked up at her, his eyes dazed as he lied:

“I’m fine, Care. I’m just…”

He tried to blame his blood sugar, but he couldn’t even get the words out. Trevor groaned as she rushed to him, falling on the floor beside him.

“Daddy, look at me,” she pleaded, shaking his shoulders, placing a hand on his chin to turn him toward her.

He remembered how freaked out they had been the first time they experienced Alex having a panic attack and could sympathize.

“I’m calling-“

“No!”

It was the second time he raised his voice at her that night, and he was mortified. Gently, he took her arm and rubbed circles against her skin, as though to calm both of them down.

“You might be having a heart attack!”

Three long, raspy breath left him before he could finally lean his head back against the wall and attempt to speak again:

“It’s not…I’m having a panic attack, Care.”

Her eyes melted, and he hated the pain that he put there.

But she instantly seemed to understand.

At last he crumbled, his knees pulling into his chest as she wrapped her arms around him.

“It’s okay,” she whispered.

It was _anything_ but okay.

He couldn’t fight it in anymore; let out a choked sob, and it was like the floodgates opened.

Carrie had nothing but comfort for him as they sat like that for what felt like ages but, according to the clock was only fifteen minutes. It was almost nice, he could admit, having his daughter around him for more than five minutes. Having her care about something other than her band and her school drama. It was nice being looked after. Eventually she coaxed him to move outside, by the pool, to get some air. The night was warm enough and as he breathed in the smell of chlorine; it was actually a nice distraction for his senses. His daughter left him long enough to make some tea to bring to him, and as she flashed a sympathetic smile his way, he couldn’t be more grateful that he had gotten clean all those years ago and did not give into temptation.

They sat quietly by the pool, just their feet dipped into the water. A sad smile crossed his face as he thought back to when she was four years old and she could spend a full hour jumping from the side of the pool into her arms. He could remember how bright he smiled then…but it was like he had forgotten how.

If he was going to confront the ghosts of his past, he knew he couldn’t do it alone.

“Carrie…” he finally started, breathing slowly, easing himself to it. “I want to tell you, about my past. I think you’re old enough to know, and I think some things might come up soon about it and in case…in case anything does, I think it’s only fair that you know, and I want you to hear it from me first. But please, you can’t tell anyone. _Anyone_.”

Their eyes met, and for a split second all he could see was Luke, glaring back at him, demanding to know how he could betray him. Carrie nodded slowly, and he shook himself out of it…

And he began.

The phantoms were just gone.

They shouldn't have even been able to teleport out of the performance hall like that period during a show, let alone while directly under his control.

Caleb was able to write it off as part of the act when they disappeared after their number ended, he was still able end the show as naturally he could, but he couldn’t even _feel_ them anymore. As soon as the show ended he spotted William scrambling toward the staircase and he teleported in front of him before he could escape. The young ghost stared up at him, horrified, caught, and immediately took a few steps back until he stumbled into a couple of minions who had followed the moment Caleb had disappeared from the stage.

“I’m sorry!” The ghost pleaded, holding his hands up instinctively. As though Caleb would strike him in front of his own audience. His outrage doubled, and instead of answering or striking he grabbed Willie’s arm and teleported them to a dark room.

“Please Caleb!” Willie exclaimed as he was tossed away once they were there. “I had no idea.”

“Where did they go?” Caleb demanded. He threw out a hand and Willie’s body doubled over in pain as he was hit with an unseen curse.

“I don’t know!”

The boy’s eyes lifted up to him, desperate. Willie was normally obedient, he knew. He simply just wanted some time out of the club to skate. He had no problem showing the new ghosts the ropes, he was good with the lifers. It wasn’t until that drummer came along that things seemed to change. Caleb wasn’t blind.

“How did they get away? What have you been teaching them?”

“Nothing! I swear!”

He was _not_ going to be bested by some dead skater and a wannabe dead _boyband_. It wasn't even that they just disappeared, it was like his powers had been momentarily cut off as they tried to get away. Caleb knew how powerful they were, even if they didn't know yet themselves, and had hoped his stamp would be enough to diminish those powers until they were fully under his control. But even under his possession they were not able to get away but cut him off from his own powers at that moment too. This was next level...this was unacceptable.

“Fine,” Caleb muttered. “They might have slipped away this time, but the last thing I can risk is _you_ helping them mess with _my_ fate. I don't have any use for that kind of disloyalty. You’ve betrayed me one time too many, William.”

With a snap of his finger he sent William away, ignoring the echoing screams that followed.

_We’ll do this the hard way, then._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sooo anxious to post this but also so excited! I'm living for season 2 and band vs Caleb type fics so here I go throwing this one into the ring! I really hope you liked the intro, and I would love to know what you thought! Thanks so much for reading!


	2. The Nightmare Begins

_Alex winced as he carefully brought a finger up to brush against the bruise under his eye. He had really wanted to think it wasn’t that bad, but he couldn’t ignore the pounding in his head or how swollen his face felt. Somehow, the physical pain wasn’t as bad as the sour feeling in his stomach, the screams he could still hear in his ears. He had been in fights before, but he had never been cornered like that, just while he was out, minding his business, on his way home…_

_“That’s some shiner.”_

_He jumped at his father’s voice and on instinct his heart pounded, his body tensed at someone being so close to him. Looking up, he met his father’s half amused, half concerned eyes._

_“Alex…this is what, the third fight you’ve been in this month? Come on, son, tell me what’s going on.”_

_Just like that it began. The hot feeling, like he was suddenly running a fever. The feeling of his body trembling as he grasped the sides of the sink. His chest tightening so much he had to gasp for breath._

Breathe slowly, _he could practically heard Luke tell him,_ In and out. Try to match my breathing _._

_But the normally dim bathroom lights seemed to be blinding, and his father’s gaze was intensifying. It was almost like he knew, and Alex knew there was only so much longer he could keep his secret up. It hadn’t been so bad until…until he was in an actual relationship. Then suddenly it was so much more than feelings he didn’t understand or was too afraid to act on. It was real._

_Between this, and the band really taking off, and school, the secrets…_

_“Alex?” His father asked carefully._

_Like he would really ever care._

_“It wasn’t at school, don’t worry,” he finally mumbled. He knew his father was only concerned he might get suspended for fighting._

_“That doesn’t make me feel better.”_

_Suddenly he was turned around, forced to face his father even though he was clearly in distress, just focusing on trying to breathe, dammit._

_“A couple of kids from school jumped me on the way home,” he finally confessed, his hands buried in the pocket of his hoodie so his father wouldn’t see them shaking. “I’m fine, by the way.”_

_He couldn’t have felt stupider for coming home and not to one of the guys’ houses, but his mother was expecting him for dinner and he had told so many lies already that week. Next week they had their first actual gig that finally wasn’t a school dance or book club…okay, so it was a wedding but still it paid, and he couldn’t risk getting grounded before then. He just had to hold it together until then._

_“You know sometimes the best way to deal with a bully is to fight back, show them you can’t be pushed around,” his father offered. Alex had to stop himself from rolling his eyes, instead focusing on a loose tile in the bathroom floor. “Why would they pick on you, anyway? Did you steal someone’s girlfriend?”_

_This time, he couldn’t help it. His eyes rolled, his shoulders fell, and he attempted to just shrug passed his father but was grabbed roughly before he could._

_“What was that?” His father demanded. He winced, his shoulders still sore from being pushed against the alley wall._

_“Not everything’s about that, okay!” Alex shot. “Everything’s not just about girls.”_

_In fact, literally nothing was about girls._

_“Then what? Because I’m really not understanding you lately, Alex. I’ve gotten two calls from your school just in this week. You skipped a class? You got a D on your history test? You used to love history!”_

_“Yeah, loved!” Suddenly all of the anxiety in him was channeling into anger, and suddenly he really didn’t care if he got hurt anymore. Every ounce of his being screamed that this wasn’t working. Who cared if his father didn’t approve? He couldn’t keep going on like this, he had just to be. The stress of trying to keep everything together, keeping everything so secret, was killing him. “I’ve grown up, in case you haven’t noticed.”_

_“All you care about lately is the band!”_

_His ears felt red hot. It really wasn’t just the band._

_“You have no idea!”_

_“You’re right, I don’t have any idea because I don’t even know who you are lately!”_

_“I’m gay!”_

_Alex’s eyes went wide as his voice echoed against the bathroom acoustic’s. His chest heaved; he was officially not sure how he was still standing. His father’s eyes went wild as he stared at him, trying to figure out if he actually heard what he heard which was fair because Alex couldn’t believe he actually said what he just said._

_It was this exact moment that had haunted his nightmares and caused many a panic attack for years, especially since his relationship began a few months ago. The worst thing that could possibly happen wasn’t the bullies at school, or even a breakup, or even ruining the band, it was this exact moment._

_A slap in the face confirmed that all his fears had been just._

_It was the cheek that didn’t have the black eye but instead was now stained red from the handprint. He breathed through the stinging, eyes darting around as he tried to figure out a way he could run out of there but his father was blocking the doorway._

_“What did you just say?” His father finally breathed, his voice deathly quiet and stiff._

_Alex wanted to sink to the floor, to cower and pray that his mother might be gracious enough to come to his rescue. But he had already ripped the band aid off. He forced himself to lift his eyes from the floor, meeting his father’s fierce gaze as he repeated, calmly:_

_“I’m gay.”_

_Suddenly he was grabbed by his shoulders, and he braced himself for another hit that never came. Instead he was pushed back against the sink._

_“Get out of my sight.”_

_It was that same familiar sneer. His eyes were unrecognizable, like he wasn’t even looking at his actual child, who he once held as a baby…there was no sympathy, only betrayal._

_Alex only stared, wondering exactly what his father expected him to do. He had heard stories, of course, children of friends of the family who had come out and were thrown out or support was cut off. He couldn’t count the number of panic attacks he had about family dinners, just waiting for his father to announced that he had been found out and kick him out right then and there. He had even planned an emergency escape system, knowing exactly where to go._

_But now that it was happening, he froze._

_“Get out!” His father roared. “Just leave, while I decide what we’re going to do about this.”_

_If I’m leaving, I’m not coming back, he wanted to say._

_But he couldn’t form words. He stuttered, feeling so helpless, so weak. He hated that he was knocked down to this, after all this time, not even able to stand up for himself…the voices of his bullies echoed in his head and he closed his eyes, trying to tune everything out. Trying to will himself to unfreeze…_

_“Now!”_

_His voice was like a lion, breath hot on his face as Alex finally shoved past him, thinking to grab his backpack from the floor before fleeing his house._

_They were right, they were all right, he was so weak. His own family didn’t even want him. There was only one place he could trust to go right now, only one person who knew, who would understand._

_Luke lived a full two miles away but it felt like no time at all had passed before he found himself sneaking around the back of the house, his chest heaving madly has he banged on the bedroom window._

_“Please!” Alex called out, the tears finally swelling in his eyes._

_This was his only hope. If not here, he could only turn to the studio, and he really didn’t want to have to explain to Bobby why he was showing up in tears, red faced, black eye, in a total panic._

_At last Luke’s face emerged behind the glass, quickly melting into concern as he frantically unlocked the window, opened it, and helped pull him in. And it hurt, it hurt to even be pulled in and he couldn’t hide the wince as Luke let go over his shoulder._

_“Alex what the hell?!” Luke exclaimed, gently raising a hand to touch the wounds on Alex’s face. He flinched again and they both stopped, Luke’s concern quickly spiraling into fury. “Who did this?! Alex!”_

_Hearing him so frantic only made him panic more, and it was all he could do to not collapse right then. Before he could, he finally confessed:_

_“It was just some kids from school. They jumped me on my way home.”_

_He might as well have slapped Luke in the face, he was so pissed, and Alex braced himself for full Luke Patterson fury._

_“I will kill them!”_

_“No, it’s really not-“_

_“Look at yourself, Alex! You’re all bruised and shaking! You’re not okay!”_

_And that was when he lost it._

_No, he wasn’t okay._

_He wasn’t sure he had been okay in a long time._

_This wasn’t him, the sneaking around, the secrecy. While he and Reggie had always been friends it was when they met Bobby two years ago that their band really formed, and everything just took off. Suddenly he was the kid making excuses to be gone all the time, staying out late, sneaking out, going to parties, falling in love, sneaking around, the bullying…it had all happened so fast. And while it was mostly exhilarating, it was mostly the best year of his life…lately it just felt like everything could be swept from beneath him so quickly, and if he lost everything at this point, he just didn’t know what he would do._

_Luke melted, and suddenly arms were around him, pulling him close, and Alex was absolutely sobbing into his shoulder._

I’m so weak.

_“It’s okay,” Luke whispered into his ear he held him tightly. “I’m sorry, I came on too strong. It’s okay, you’re safe. You’re safe, Alex.”_

_Safe._

_His body nearly broke._

_Because he wasn’t safe, was he? He had a group of bullies after him three times just this month. His own father didn’t want him in the house. He didn’t know who to turn to anymore, who to trust, if he could even trust himself._

_“Here,” Luke finally said gently, moving him to the edge of his twin bed after a long moment of just holding him. “Let me get some ice.”_

_“And water,” Alex stammered, looking up at him with red-rimmed eyes, tears dried on his face and feeling just drained._

_Luke nodded before he disappeared._

_It was one of the rare nights where both of the Pattersons worked the late shift; after all, just yesterday Luke had begged him to find a reason to come over tonight anyway._

_Had that really just been yesterday?_

_Thankfully look wasn’t going long, returning with some ice from the freezer in a baggy and a glass of water. He took the water first, sipping slowly and relishing in the feeling of the cool liquid running down his throat. His whole body just felt done._

_“Jesus, your face,” Luke muttered as he gently placed the ice to his eye. Alex didn’t even flinch this time, he was just so, so done. His eyes searched Alex’s face, determined to figure out everything that hurt. “Is it anything else?”_

_He could see the worst-case scenarios swirling in Luke’s eyes, and Alex quickly shook his head._

_“I’m just sore,” he admitted, “from being pushed around. I…they kicked me a couple of times, but it’s fine.”_

_“It’s not fine!” Luke exclaimed, stopping short when he noticed Alex tensing at the rise of his voice. He sighed, finally asking the questions both of them were dreading: “This wasn’t the first time, was it?”_

_Alex let out a trembling breath as he forced himself to shake his head no._

_“And…it’s not just the fight, is it?”_

_He shook his head, and Luke briefly closed his eyes, bracing himself._

_“I told my dad,” he confessed, his voice breaking, “I told him I’m gay.”_

_And it was all Luke needed to know. His eyes went wide before that familiar fury filled them, his hands clenched to fist at his side._

_“He was demanding to know who was messing with me and why. He’s gotten the calls from school.”_

_“Wait,” Luke said suddenly, slowly getting to his feet, “is that why they jumped you, because of being gay?”_

_“You know how the guys on the football team are…”_

_His voice sounded too desperate, but he really, really just wanted to be done with this conversation._

_“I didn’t know they have been beating you up! How many times?!” Luke demanded as Alex grabbed his hair with his hands, pulling tightly on his blonde bangs and wishing more than anything that he could wake up and start this whole stupid day over…maybe find a reason to stay home from school entirely. More lies, a voice hissed in his head. “How many times, Alex?!”_

_He knew Luke would get it out of him eventually, so at last he bit his lip, drawing in a deep breath before confessing:_

_“This was the third time this month.”_

_Luke pounded one of his fist into his other hand and said nothing as he swirled on his feet and stormed toward the door, looking fit to kill._

_“No, Luke, please-“_

_“I will actually kill them!”_

_“Please!”_

_His pleads echoed desperately around him as he jumped to his feet, grabbing Luke’s arm to stop him. Slowly Luke stopped, turning toward him, clearly torn._

_“I need you here,” he pleaded. “I don’t want to be left alone…I don’t have anywhere else to go.”_

_And there was that look, that look that Alex had fallen hard for, so full of empathy, wanting, desire, protection. Luke Patterson might be the most talented wordsmith he had ever met, but he could say more with one look than he could with a notebook full of lyrics._

_“How did your dad react?” Luke finally asked, swallowing nervously._

_There was no delicate way to ask it, but Alex was secretly grateful that he had because he wasn’t sure this was something he could add on the list of things he kept to himself._

_“He slapped me,” he confessed, and Luke’s eyes slammed shut as he drew in a deep breath, clearly forcing himself to not freak out and storm over to Alex’s house right then and there to retaliate. “It wasn’t anything serious, it’s fine.”_

_“None of this is fine, Alex!”_

_Yeah, he knew. It was stupid to even pretend. But he wasn’t sure how else he was supposed to get through the rest of the night, let alone whatever hell the rest of the week had in store for him…let alone the rest of his life. What if he went through the whole rest of his life, disowned by his own family? Never able to celebrate another holiday or birthday…_

_He swallowed hard, willing himself to not be sick right then and there._

_“I just…I need to process this,” Alex breathed, his eyes pleading for Luke to understand._

_At last, he nodded and closed the distance between them with another embrace._

_“I’m so sorry,” Luke whispered. “I should have been there. I’ll make sure you’re not alone at school again, and I’m walking you home every day from now on.”_

_“You can’t possibly promise that.”_

_“You’d be amazed what I can do when I’m determined.”_

_They broke apart as Luke smirked, and Alex knew he wasn’t lying. He offered him the smallest of smiles_

_“Look, I can tell my parents yours were out of town and needed a place to stay.”_

_“And my black eye?” Alex questioned. “Your dad’s a doctor, Luke. Your parents will have questions.”_

_“Yeah, and if they weren’t so crazy I’d be tempted to take you to the hospital right now, cause you kinda look like you need it.”_

_Alex rolled his eyes as he shook his head, shooting down that idea. He wanted to tell Luke how incredibly uncrazy his parents were, that they were concerned but not the crazy kind of obsessively religious concerned like Alex’s. They wouldn’t ever just throw him out. But he decided it best to not push it._

_“I’ll be okay,” Alex promised. “I really just needed somewhere to go.”_

_Luke gave his arm a comforting squeeze and a reassuring smile._

_“You know you can always come to me. Please, Alex. In all seriousness…if anyone ever tries to hurt you again, if you’re unsafe or anything, just tell me. Scream my name, loud as you possibly can if you need to, and I’ll be there, like superspeed skills.”_

_This time Alex smirked, imagining a world where Luke had said superspeed skills and could literally appear in front of a bully in a flash to save him._

_“Thanks,” he offered sincerely, instead of teasing him._

_Gently, Luke’s hand locked with his and he squeezed his palm. A relieved smile crossed Alex’s face, it was finally done. Luke knew about the bullying. His dad knew he was gay. And…the world hadn’t ended. Well, it was trying to. But right here, Luke’s hand in his, he felt, at least for the moment, okay. He felt safe._

_“So,” Alex finally announced awkwardly, swinging their arms slowly in the space between them. “Yesterday you were all desperate to get me over here tonight. Looks like you got your way, like always, Patterson.”_

_Luke threw a wicked smile at him and a familiar warmth suddenly washed over his body._

_Desire._

_He hesitated for just a moment, knowing exactly what Luke’s answer would be, checking in with himself mentally to make sure he was okay with it. His body was completely wrecked, he was exhausted, but yet all he wanted at that moment…_

_A sly grin crossed his lips as he asked:_

_“What exactly did you have in mind to do?”_

_Luke’s grin mirrored his own as he finally swooped forward, capturing his lips in a soft, gentle kiss._

Alex awoke with a start, gasping and eyes flying open.

Luke was staring right back at him, mortified.

_Had they…?_

Wait…

They were dead.

They weren’t together anymore.

And it was 2020.

Everything rushed back to him, the hot dogs, Julie, Caleb, the Ghost Club, the Orpheum, the curse, being freed of the curse…falling asleep in Julie’s bed.

_Asleep?_

Thad been asleep, in _Julie’s_ bed…together?

It seemed to hit them at the same moment and they both shot up in a panic.

“I swear I was facing Julie last night,” Luke announced suddenly.

Alex blinked. He wasn’t exactly sure how that made things any better, or any less weird. Not to mention…Julie was nowhere to be seen. He was going to start asking questions himself when beside him, desperate, incoherent, murmuring got his attention.

Reggie.

His friend was turned on his side, away from them, curled up into a ball and trembling.

His mind raced in panic, desperate to pull his friend out of whatever kind of… _fit_ this was. He just sounded so childlike, so un-Reggie. So helpless.

Because while it certainly looked like he was having a nightmare, there was no possible way they had been sleeping. No possible way…

“Reggie,” Alex called, gently shaking his friend awake. “Reggie…wake up.”

He exchanged worried glances with Luke, who for once didn’t seem to have any idea how to handle this.

Reggie shot up, his eyes lit with panic and fear, his chest heaving. Alex couldn’t help but to snake a hand around the bassist wrist, daring to check his pulse, just to make sure…

“Yeah, still dead,” Reggie grimaced. “What was that? Were we sleeping?”

He looked desperately between his two friends, both searching for answers and terrified of whatever that was that was plaguing his…dreams?

In totally imperfect timing the bedroom door open and in bounced Julie, fully dressed and all smiles.

“Finally!” She exclaimed, bemused as she looked between the three of them on her bed. “It’s almost ten. I thought ghost couldn’t sleep?”

From down the hall they could hear the sounds of Saturday morning television, which in today’s world was Carlos’ favorite youtube channels on repeat. Alex felt totally disoriented. Whatever the nightmare was, it had felt so _real_ , and this was like being literally yanked out of the past again. Julie stopped, concern washing over her face as she realized something was wrong.

“What is it?” She demanded.

“We shouldn’t be able to sleep, not like actual _sleep_ sleep, anyway,” Luke confessed. “We were pretty drained last night, between Caleb and playing the Orpheum and fighting off the curse, I thought maybe it was just a psychological thing, like we needed to just rest but…”

“That was sleeping,” Alex countered, raising a shaky hand to run through his hair. “That was…that wasn’t cool.”

Beside him Reggie still wasn’t saying anything, uncharacteristically quiet and still.

Without warning, he just poofed out.

Alex stared at the spot where Reggie just was, and he had a split-second time to look back to Luke, who was giving him the _you know what we have to do_ , look. And he too poofed out. But Alex looked back at Julie, knowing she deserved answers. It was at that moment when he realized just how little she knew about them, really. There were so many things they had tried to bury, demons that they thought were okay to just leave in the past. They thought they could just move forward.

But apparently, it wasn’t that simple.

“Alex?” She asked carefully, sitting beside him on the edge of the bed.

“I had a dream,” he admitted, hardly able to believe his own words. “I haven’t done that, not since…”

He swallowed nervously, forcing the memories away. He couldn’t think of his death, not now. Not even as he very clearly remembered his last nightmare was a panic dream the night before the Orpheum, when he dreamed he had completely forgotten the words to their songs and that his drumstick slipped out of his hands mid “Now or Never”, totally ruining the set before they barely even started.

Julie’s hand curled around his wrist, and his body immediately eased. They shared small smiles, both relishing in this newfound comfort of touch.

“I’m sorry, Julie,” he said softly. He wanted to confess everything to her, he really did, but his best friend was out there somewhere, spiraling.

“It’s okay,” she offered sincerely, “go.”

She squeezed his hand before he disappeared away. He still wasn’t sure how they did it, finding each other so easily like this, but it was like their souls were attached. He knew exactly where to find Reggie and wasn’t surprised at all to find him on the far end of the beach near where his parents used to be. Luke was trying and failing at consoling him as Reggie just kicked wildly at the sand, letting out screams of frustration.

“Reggie!” Alex finally exclaimed, announcing his presence as he grabbed his friend’s arms to try to stop him.

“It’s okay, Reg,” Luke said cautiously. “We’re all freaked out.”

The bassist just shook his head, his hands trembling. He and Luke exchanged glances again, unsure of what to do or what to think.

“What _was_ that?” Reggie finally shot, his face looking sickly pale when just the night before, he had looked so much stronger than he had since their death. As soon as they were tangible, it was like they instantly felt so much more like themselves and not just their spirit. They had just never imagined that strength would stretch to sleeping and dreaming. “I thought that we left that behind, the exhaustion and dreaming and…”

Alex hated to admit it, but even as Reggie said exhaustion he yawned on instinct and Luke mimicked soon after. His body did feel _weak_. His hands felt numb, his arms and legs heavy, his brain was on overdrive and all at the same his eyelids weighed heavily, threatening to close and send him right back to…

He shook his head.

“Maybe it’s just a weird side effect of…whatever happened last night,” Luke offered, though even he looked unconvinced.

“It feels like we have twenty-five years of sleep to catch up on,” Alex stated, his hand stuffed in his pockets as he tried squeezing them and releasing them slowly, desperate to get rid of any tension he could.

It was too much. It wasn’t fair…could they not just get one night off from ghost drama? One night, where they didn’t have to worry about any of this stuff? Where they could just celebrate the gig of their lifetime…even if it was in their afterlife time?

Reggie still looked shaken as he turned to the sea, arms crossed, practically pouting in anger.

“What did you dream about, Reg?” Luke finally asked carefully.

They stepped up so that one of them was on either side. For a long moment Reggie just stared, taking in the vastness of the ocean, the life swirling around them, and…he just let go. Luke immediately took him, wrapping an arm around him and Alex placing a hand at the small of Reggie’s back, rubbing gentle circles as he sobbed.

“I’m sorry,” Reggie croaked as he lifted up, wiping his hands over his face.

“Don’t be sorry,” Alex insisted. “It was scary for me too.”

Reggie glanced at him curiously, maybe half out of attempts to distract himself but mostly with sincere concern.

“What did you dream about?” His friend asked, his voice still shaking slightly.

He swallowed. His eyes found Luke’s, helpless, apologetic. It was nothing either of them had intended to drag up again. Their relationship, it was…in the past. Things were _fine_.

“The night I came out to my dad,” Alex admitted, all in one breath.

And Luke, the bastard, he actually smirked, his typical 17 year old brain clearly zoning in on one certain feature from that memory. Alex shoved him, throwing him a warning look.

“Not _that!_ ”

Luke just let out a laugh as Reggie stared between them, clearly confused, but Alex wasn’t exactly willing to dive that deep into the story again. He cleared his throat before turning back to his friend.

“And…you?”

The bassists’ eyes narrowed, darkening more than Alex had ever seen as he glared at the sand beneath his feet.

“My dad.”

It was all he offered, yet his word stung like he had been slapped in the face again. He and Luke didn’t dare look at each other, they all stared down, unsure of what to say. They knew things at Reggie’s house lately weren’t exactly ideal, but Reggie had never shared much detail other than his parents had been fighting a lot and he thought they might be going through a divorce. Never once were any of them invited over to the Peters’ house. Reggie was always the first to suggest a sleepover at one of the boys’ house, which they had all taken just to be an excuse to sleep somewhere quiet for a change, but maybe…

Maybe it was way worse than they had imagined.

“Your parents…” Luke stated, sounding just as sick as Alex felt. “it wasn’t just the fighting, was it?”

All Reggie had to do was shake his head.

Alex’s eyes fell closed, and he just felt so stupid.

“I thought it was all past me,” Reggie croaked out. Luke reached out to him as he trembled, but was pushed away. Hands brushing wildly through his hair, Reggie stumbled backwards, like he was trying to find some way to ground himself but wanted to flee at the same time. “I thought this afterlife, it was like our second chance. I could put all that behind me. I thought maybe if I tried to forgive him…and I really, really tried to…”

He trailed off, shaking his head as he held out his arms, as to keep them at bay. His face was nearly grey he was so pale, he wasn’t himself at all, and Alex was fuming with anger at himself for never realizing.

“Please,” Reggie pleaded with them, though they didn’t know why. “I just…I need some space. Don’t tell Julie.”

And he disappeared again.

The two remaining phantoms just stared at where their friend just was, trying to figure out what that was supposed to be about. All Alex knew was this was too much, he couldn’t take one more revelation, one more awful memory, one more change.

He needed the one constant that had, so far, been the only thing that helped him make sense of this ghost world.

“I…I need,” he couldn’t even hardly say it, he was so frustrated, so furious.

“We could have helped him!” Luke finally spat out, cutting him off, as though he was suddenly unfrozen in time.

Alex’s face fell, knowing how much guilt Luke already held for them all. This didn’t exactly help.

“I know.”

And how was he supposed to leave that?

“What…is…the…point…of…this?!” His friend screeched, kicking at the sand until Alex grabbed him, pulling him toward his chest and letting Luke’s hands ball into fists in his sweatshirt. “We can’t just let him go…”

His eyes were closed, and it was then that Alex could see, could feel, just how exhausted, emotionally and physically, his best friend, his _ex_ , was. They were all drained, but Luke…Luke had just carried so much guilt, took on so much responsibility. He always had, even before their death.

“Just give him space,” Alex whispered. “It’s not your fault.”

He knew he might as well be talking to a wall. It was one of the main things he and Luke always had in common- they had the special gift of finding a way to make _everything_ their own fault. Luke had just developed his talent for that a bit more in the afterlife. Alex was already a pro.

When they pulled apart, Luke offered him a small, gracious smile before it slipped into one of his infamous smirks.

“So…first dream as a ghost and it was about that night, huh?”

He winked, and Alex couldn’t help but to let out a snort as he shoved Luke away.

“You are _so_ dead, Patterson!”

“I know!”

Luke shoved him back. They laughed, and for a split second it felt like things could be okay. After all, one of Luke’s others gifts was having a knack for turning really bad days into really… _really_ good ones.

Then they looked up, and still no Reggie. Still no answers.

They were still ghosts.

“Don’t worry,” Alex promised. “You’re not my unfinished business or anything.”

Luke just snorted, giving away any wonderings if he might have thought just same. Alex would only ever admit to himself that when they first died and came back together, if maybe, possibly, they were supposed to have worked out...

Then he met Willie.

Then he fell madly, deeply in love, in a way he didn’t know possible…

_Willie._

Coldness washed over him as he thought of Willie warning them _“If Caleb knew I was helping you…he’d destroy me”_.

And he had helped them so much, he literally wouldn’t be standing here, on this beach, with his soul intact, without him. But they left Caleb back at the Club and god knows what happened after that. If Caleb retaliated on Willie…

“I need to find Willie!” Alex suddenly exclaimed. Luke stared at him, looking very much like he thought this was a terrible idea, knowing exactly what Alex was thinking of doing… “Luke, if Caleb found out…”

“You can’t go back there!” Luke cried, grabbing onto his shoulders as though he could lock him to the ground and make sure he couldn’t leave. “Alex, please!”

He just shook his head.

“If it were any of us, Luke…”

He knew he was right, and it was painful to watch that realization wash over his friend’s face. Granted, for the anxious part of him that was the last thing he wanted to do, go anywhere near Caleb’s club again. But that was the thing about Willie….Willie tested him. He made him want _more_. He made him feel equal parts like his sincere, whole, self and like someone new. He gave him this confidence like…like he could do anything. Face anything.

And somehow, he felt incredibly strongly that he could do this.

“Let me come with you,” Luke insisted.

No surprise.

“No, please….go back to Julie and tell her what’s going on. It might not even be that bad, for all I know he’s out, like always just…at one of his hang outs. I’ll just check the skate park and museum.” He couldn’t have possibly sounded more unsure of himself as his eyes scanned the boardwalk nearby. As though it’d be that easy to just see him skating through the sea of tourists. “I can see if he has any idea what’s going on with us.”

“Let’s just come up with a plan-“

“We don’t have time for a plan! I should have done this like, last night! Instead we _slept.”_

“We were exhausted, Alex! I’m _still_ exhausted. There’s no way you’re strong enough to do this alone. We have no idea what it means that Julie could feel us, or why we’re so tired or why we didn’t crossover or were destroyed or _anything_.”

Rationally, Alex knew this.

Rationally, he knew he was in no state to even think about being a one-man search party.

But he also remembered all too well how powerful those jolts were. He remembered the utter fear in Willie’s eyes as he said the word “destroyed”. He knew that if they fled Caleb, if Caleb found out they didn’t actually crossover, Willie could be in so much trouble by now.

“I have to warn him, at least,” Alex insisted. “We’re not going to be able to hide from Caleb for long. It's not going to be hard for him to find out we didn't crossover."

It was a thought that he knew both of them were painfully aware of and were trying to ignore. How dare they have ever thought today could just be a nice, easy, lazy day of celebration?

“I know,” Luke finally confessed. “You’re right. I just can’t let you do this alone.”

Alex’s eyes dashed around the beach, trying to think of any way that he could prove that he was going to be okay. He spotted a woman laying not far from them, stretched out on her back and reading a book. All it took was a single moment of absolute concentration and the wind picked up, blowing the pages back and for and finally blowing the book out of her hand. On the boardwalk, tourists cried out in surprise at the sudden storm.

And just as soon as it started, Alex willed himself to stop it and the beach returned to normal. He turned back to Luke as though to say… _see_?

Luke just blinked.

“Was that…do you have ghost powers?! And you weren’t going to share this with the class?!”

He sounded furious, but his eyes were lit with curiosity and admiration. Alex just offered a sheepish shrug.

“Willie has been teaching me things,” he confessed. “Before, I wasn’t that great, at all, but now…whatever happened last night, it’s like changed everything. And if we were a threat to Caleb before…”

Luke just stared at him, still clearly impressed and a bit pissed at what he just witnessed and this latest secret, but at last he nodded.

“Go,” he offered at last. Alex sighed in relief; it really did feel better to leave on an understanding note. “See if you can find Willie but I swear Alex, please, do not go near that club without us. If you can’t find Willie we’ll figure out a way to fight Caleb together. Maybe you can try to teach us some of your ghost tricks."

His eyes twinkled, and Alex grinned, selfishly feeling a bit elated that for ones he had a talent that neither of his friends did. Suddenly Luke threw his arms around him, pulling him into an embrace and resting his forehead against his. They were so close, and deep down he cursed Luke for teasing him like this, knowing what he had to do, but he knew it was just his way of offering complete trust.

“If you’re not back in the studio in three hours I’m sending out a search party,” Luke announced.

For a split second their eyes met and somehow, he had a bad feeling that Luke knew exactly what he really planned to do. Alex just nodded, not daring to speak in fear of giving himself away completely.

And he disappeared on the spot.

When Alex looked up again, he half expected Luke to be right beside him in pursuit, but instead he found himself completely alone, at the exact location where he knew he’d find Willie.

The guys had been permanently attached to his soul since their death; it felt like he could always find them the moment he needed to. With Willie it was a little different, it was like he could sense his shadow, like he was always right around the corner.

Now it just felt like Willie was calling out for him. He felt panic, just at the thought of his name, and he knew something wasn’t right. At the same time there was something crying out within him, begging him to stay away. It was Willie, he knew, both depending on his help but afraid for him to get involved with Caleb again.

But Willie wasn’t actually here to have a say, and neither were the guys, and he could only plead that the guys wouldn’t follow him here.

Alex drew in a final deep breath, trying to give himself the pep talk of all pep talks as his eyes gazed up at the structure before him.

The Hollywood Ghost Club.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the whole Nick thing ;)
> 
> Thanks so much for the comments and kudos on the first chapter! I'm super excited to share this story with you guys. I would love to know what you think so far! Thanks so much!


	3. Alex's Deal

The morning after the Orpheum, Carrie woke up to an unfamiliar blinding light. It was warm. She blinked in confusion, then immediately recalled Julie’s performance at the Orpheum and that heart to heart with her dad. Opening her eyes, she remembered they had fallen asleep outside, lounging on the outdoor patio while watching a movie on the projector. They hadn’t done that since she was a kid, and Carrie had to admit she felt more like herself that night than she had in a long time. For her dad to poor out his demons like that with her, to trust her with his darkest secret, it made her feel connected to him in a way she never had. A smile crossed her face as she lifted herself off of the outdoor sofa and spotted her father curled up on the other end.

She couldn’t even begin to imagine how he had done it all these years, trying to completely delete who he was, burying away _that night_. He had seen his friends die, been to their funerals.

Now his band was somehow back…with _Julie_.

And dad was fully convinced they were back to haunt him, to seek revenge.

Yet the boys in Julie’s band, they looked just like any other kids at their school. Even Carrie wasn’t cold enough to not notice how Julie’s eyes lit up when she played with him, that chemistry she had with her guitarist. Only deep down could she admit it was a talent she’d die to have. They didn’t exactly seem vengeful.

Suddenly her dad started twitching in his sleep, his face contorted in pain.

“Go with them…” he murmured, his hands closing into fists against his chest. “Please…let me…”

His words from the night before echoed back to her… _“They wouldn’t let me ride in the ambulance. They were so sick. Reggie was already gone. They didn’t tell me, but I heard them call time of death. They wouldn’t let me go…”_

She rushed to his side, gently shaking him.

“Daddy…dad, wake up. It’s just a dream.”

His eyes shot open so fast it startled her. She stepped back, half afraid that he might lash out in confusion. Instead he looked around, getting his bearings, and slowly sat up.

“Did we fall asleep out here?” He asked, pressing his hands against his eyes, clearly still trying to shake himself out of his nightmare.

“Yeah,” she offered gently, sitting beside him. “We haven’t done that in awhile.”

“No, we haven’t.” He smiled at her, and it was like all of his old fears disappeared for just a moment. She mirrored him, and it eased her that maybe the connection they finally found last night could continue. They could be true father-daughter instead of just two people drifting around the same house, barely aware of each other. “I’m sorry, if I put too much on you last night. I never meant to make you apart of any of that. When you were born, all I wanted was for you to have a normal life, without all of my baggage.”

She couldn’t help but to roll her eyes.

“Dad, you have a helicopter with your face on it. There’s nothing normal about our life.”

They laughed, and she threw her arms around him, reluctant to let their time together end. The truth was last night, he fell asleep long before she had. She could have woken him up to go inside, or she could have gone in and watched Netflix, maybe figure out some lyrics she had been stuck on. Instead, she found herself up most of the night, gazing at the lights reflecting off of the pool, just _thinking_. Thinking about how unhappy she was with the person she was becoming.

“Listen, I don’t want you to worry about any of this,” he told her as they broke apart. “I don’t have any idea what’s going on, but this a me problem, not a you problem, okay?”

Carrie rolled her eyes. As if.

But she knew to not push it.

She knew her dad and knew that within a couple of days it would be like he never told her any of this. He’d bottle it back up, push everything back down inside him, and never speak of it again. But the last thing she wanted was her dad battling ghost demons from his past alone…and Julie’s ghost demons, none the less.

She wouldn’t have it.

paced the studio, trying to figure out where everything had gone wrong. They had just played the Orpheum. The guys had somehow gotten rid of the curse. Their souls were saved. They were _corporeal_.

Today should have been a _good_ day. A _great_ day. They should be celebrating! 

But clearly something was so off, and for the guys to just disappear like that, looking so shaken, so worried, and not clue her in, it terrified her. And, pissed her off just a bit. Had she really not gained her trust yet? Maybe it was easier for them to just disappear on cue than fully process what was going on, but they could not keep going on like this. She was already preparing her speech in her head as she paced when Luke suddenly popped into the room.

“What is going on?” She exclaimed, storming up to him. You guys can’t just keep poofing out on me like that!”

She stopped short, taking in how completely panicked he was. He looked terrible, face ridden with worry, shaking slightly with anxiety, and yet his eyes just looked _so tired_. Her heart melted, and she felt selfish…how did they do this to her _every time_? Shut her out, keep her secrets, bail on her, and still made her feel awful for them.

“Luke, what is it?”

He swallowed nervously, looking he wanted to tell her everything and was afraid to tell her anything all at the same time. She took his hand, offering it a gentle squeeze, reminding him that she was right there with him.

“It’s okay,” she said softly. “You can tell me anything, I won’t be mad.”

And there Luke had done it again…totally won back over her heart. Their eyes met, and she flashed back to the day they went to his parents’ house, when he confessed to her about the jolts. He had been so afraid for her to know the pain they were in…she had sickening feeling that maybe they hadn’t gotten rid Caleb so easily after all.

“Something weird is going on. I don’t know what we did last night, but it’s like it changed us.”

He looked down at their hands joined together, an odd fear in his eyes like he was so worried he was doing something wrong. Maybe that’s all this was, she hoped, anxiety.

“I know,” she expressed, trying to offer a small smile, but she was too pained by how upset he was. “It’s a lot of change, but we’ll figure it out.”

“That’s just it,” Luke sighed. “Alex went after Willie, saying he was going to try to get some answers but Julie…Willie had warned us that if Caleb knew he was helping us, he would _destroy_ him.”

Luke shook even as he said it, and Julie had to swallow down her nerves, trying to not imagine what that could mean.

“And I can’t imagine that Caleb’s too happy with us after we escaped his club last night.”

_“What?_ You were there?”

His eyes went wide, as he realized just how much they hadn’t caught up on. Last night they had all been so genuinely exhausted, apparently exhausted enough for the ghosts to sleep, and she was still on enough of the a high from the show that she was willing to be okay with waiting to do story time in the morning.

And then in the morning, everything turned to chaos.

“Yeah but…not by choice,” he admitted. She stared at him, more concerned than ever, wondering what _that_ was supposed to mean. “He was _here_. He _made_ us go back to the club.”

“How?” She regretted asking it even if she did, imagining Caleb kidnapping them, hands tied with rope and all…

Luke just blinked.

“He sent us there, by like, teleport,” Luke said casually. _Right_. “He gave us one last chance to be in his band, and we tried to refuse, we did, but then it was like…he could control us. He _made_ us come on stage. We did this entire number with him, he was able to magically change our clothes and everything.”

“Yeah,” Julie teased, “I had wondered what was up with those tuxes.”

He actually blushed, and Julie had definitely noted that he had made a point to lose the tux jacket for the show; she had to admit, she would have loved to see him in a full-on navy tux. She imagined he _hated_ having to wear it.

“It was like we had no control,” Luke went on, ignoring her, “and when it ended, we knew we had to do whatever it took to get out of there. Then we lifted the curse, and we felt so much stronger. It was almost like _that_ was how we were supposed to feel this whole time. But we shouldn’t have been able to sleep. Those dreams, Julie, they were memories. It felt like we were there, again, in the past. Reliving everything.”

Julie felt terrible as she gazed down at their hands, still hardly able to believe she could be this close them. She felt selfish, having been frustrated at them. She knew she couldn’t even imagine the pain they felt on a daily basis, maybe even on a constant basis. It was like she could always see the pain behind the smiles, behind the jokes. Even Reggie…he seemed to try so hard to purposefully keep himself locked away, hiding behind comic relief. It was hard enough for them to feel all of that every day, but to be forced to _relive_ that pain, even in their dreams…

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

Part of her wanted to ask what they dreamed about, but it was enough that he was being this open with her. He took her other hand, bringing both hands close to his chest as he clinched them.

“Reggie took off,” Luke told her. Julie bit her lip, her heart aching for their bassist. She knew next to nothing about Reggie, truthfully, and it scared her to no end that his past might have been so bad that he couldn’t tell her _anything_. “It was too much for him. Alex claimed he was just going to look for Willie, but I don’t think he’s going to find him, Julie. If Caleb was pissed at us before, I don’t have any doubt that he’s going to be after us now, and I have no doubt he would have gone after Willie. I’m _really_ worried Alex has different plans.”

Her mouth fell open, her heart raced, as she realized what Luke meant: Caleb’s club.

“We need to go after him!” She exclaimed.

“I tried! But it’s like they’ve both been cut off from me. I can always feel them, Julie, it’s like our souls are connected. But Reggie and Alex both, it’s like they’ve been cut off. Or cut themselves off, I don’t know. I want to give them their space, but if Caleb comes after us, I don’t think we’ll have a lot of time.

All they could do was stare at each other, both absolutely clueless about what they were supposed to do now. It absolutely sounded like Alex had gone to the Ghost Club after Willie, and while Julie still didn’t really understand what the deal was with this crazy ghost guy wanting them to be in his band forever, everything about that club sounded _terrifying_.

“What are we going to do?” Julie wondered out loud quietly.

Luke only shook his head…and then the garage door opened. They both jumped apart and Julie panicked- they still weren’t sure if the boys were still invisible to everyone else now that they were corporeal. To think, this morning she thought the most stressful thing that would happen would be telling her dad. Now she wasn’t sure how she could ever bring him into this right now.

But it wasn’t her dad.

“Carrie?”

Julie just stared, confused as her ex-friend strode into the studio.

“What is she doing here?” Luke hissed.

At least this answered her question, Carrie didn’t seem to notice at all that a third person was there with them.

“The jig is up, Molina!” Carrie announced as she stormed toward her.

There was no smirk, no glimmer of evil in her eyes…Carrie was _pissed_. Julie took a protective step back and crossed her arms, just as Carrie did, trying to keep her cool together.

“What do you want, Carrie? It’s not a great time.”

“I know about your band.”

Beside her Luke noticeably tensed, glancing toward her without giving her any indication how she should handle this. Julie stayed perfectly still, trying her best not to give anything away, not daring to look back at the ghost.

“What do you mean?” She replied coolly.

“I know they’re ghosts.”

The room fell silent.

There was no turning back now.

Again, she found herself desperately wondering…when did everything go so, _so_ wrong?

“What are you talking about?” Julie tried, forcing an incredulous smile.

Carrie didn’t even blink.

“I know they’re ghosts. I know they used to be in a band with my dad. I know they’re back to haunt him.”

Beside her Luke’s eyes blown wide, he was absolutely bouncing with rage. Julie knew he was desperately close to losing his cool all together…she shivered, noting how noticeably colder the room had gotten suddenly.

“Carrie,” she began carefully, reminding herself to just _breathe_. Because this was really, really getting to be too much. This was not the confession she had expected to have, not today, not ever.

“Save it, Julie,” she shot, zero sympathy in her voice. “I just came over to tell you to tell them to leave my father alone.”

Luke was impossible still beside her, his face softer, _guilty_. He took a step toward Julie and whispered in her ear:

“Make me visible to her.”

Julie startled, looking his way; Carrie’s eyes widened at the sudden loss of contact between them, clearly noting she was looking at someone beside her.

“I can’t…” Julie started, shaking her head as she tried to wrap her mind around all this. What made Luke think that she could _make_ him visible?

“They’re here, aren’t they?” Carrie breathed, her eyes wondering around the room. “I want to talk to them.”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

Her eyes darted between the two, trying to find a way out of this, but Luke was determined.

“Let me try something.”

Ever so slowly he wrapped his hand around her wrist, looking straight at Carrie, still standing perfectly stiff. Nervous.

Then Carrie’s eyes went wide and she stumbled back, her composure lost completely. Her mouth fell open, then closed.

Then, again, she crossed her arms, her face emotionless.

“Stay away from him,” she declared; Luke didn’t respond. Julie had never seen him look so out of place, it was like he wanted to lash out at her but didn’t have the heart. “I know you’re haunting him, and I know that you’re back to get revenge, but trust me. He’s suffered enough.”

“I…” Luke began, stumbling over his words as he held tightly onto Julie, sending shivers up her spine. “Look, with all due respect, your dad _stole_ our music. For him maybe he’s had twenty-five years to deal with it, but for us it’s like we _just_ died. We died and came back only to find out he stole our legacy. He got to survive and he stole everything from us. He took one of my songs that was about one of the most important times of my life and made a _platinum record_ out of it and _didn’t even give me credit_ so yeah I was just a LITTLE PISSED OFF.”

The studio lights started to flicker, and she and Carrie both looked around, shocked, slightly afraid…

Julie turned to Luke, who didn’t look at all phased as he continued:

“And yeah, at first all we wanted to do was get revenge, because even though we came back as ghosts, even though somehow make people hear us and somehow Julie could make people see us, we still couldn’t perform our own music. We thought maybe that was our unfinished business, the whole reason we’re back here to begin with. But this is so much bigger than Bobby now. There is literally an evil ghost who is after my _soul_ , and my best friends are MIA, so forgive me if I don’t have a lot of sympathy right now that Trevor Wilson is afraid of ghosts!”

His voice roared through the studio, he jerked Julie’s arm harder than she was sure he meant as he screamed. The studio seemed to almost rock.

Then Carrie screamed.

One of the chairs that had been tethered to the ceiling fell. She let go of Luke, rushing to push Carrie out of the way. They skid across the floor as they fell, Julie doing her best to cover both of their heads. Her heart stopped when the room fell silent…she was expecting more to fall but there was just…silence.

“What the hell?!” Carrie exclaimed, pushing away from her.

Julie’s eyes lit up with fury as she threw her head back toward Luke, ready to go off…

But the ghost looked just as terrified as they did. He was crouched down close to the floor, as though he had forgotten he couldn’t get hurt. His face was ashen, almost drained of what little color was left.

“Julie, I really didn’t mean…”

Her chest was heaving as he suddenly appeared by her, touching her shoulder so that Carrie could see him again. Her old friend screeched, scrambling back against the wall.

“I really didn’t mean to do that!” Luke told her. “I’m so sorry.”

“Keep him away from me!”

Luke just looked so hurt, and Julie had no doubt that he genuinely had no idea how that just happened.

“I’m _sorry_ ,” he pleaded sincerely. “We won’t come near you or your dad again, I swear.”

Before Julie could say anything there was a noise at the door to the studio and Luke jumped away from her, startled as her dad appeared. Of course. The noise, the screaming, of course he’d come check on her.

“I don’t know what that was Julie, I swear,” Luke pleaded once he was satisfied Ray couldn’t see him.

She wasn’t sure what to think. She had to admit when the guys told her they were ghosts she had expected them to be a bit more…sinister. Not just a bundle of chaotic energy, creativity and some of the best talent she had ever seen. Maybe Luke was right. Maybe lifting the curse changed everything…

“Julie!” Ray ran toward them, taking in the furniture that had fallen. His eyes fell on Carrie, obviously confused to see her, but even more in shock over what happened. “I heard the screaming. Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, we’re fine. It was just an accident.”

Her eyes found Luke’s once again, warning him to not try anything while her dad was in there. He just looked so guilty…her heart was so torn.

“Carrie, are you okay?” Ray asked, holding down a hand to help her up. Carrie accepted, her face deathly pale as she stood. She looked so in shock she could only shake her head. “I’m so sorry, those were hung up there a long time ago, we’ve only just started using the studio again, I should have checked them.

_“Yeah.”_

It was all Carrie could say, yet it sounded more hateful and hurtful than anything she could have said to Julie or Luke. Ray looked at Julie for help; she could only shrug.

“Um…Julie, I was just going to tell you that Nick’s here,” her dad spoke up to break the silence.

Julie blinked.

Really?

Of all times?!

Could this day possibly get any worse?

She grimaced, wishing the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind. Two of their friends were AWOL, Caleb was possibly after them, Willie was potentially having his soul destroyed, however that worked…and the guys could sleep and were reliving memories in nightmares. Of course the day could get worse.

“Of course he is,” she announced through gritted teeth.

“Nick?” Carrie shot, like it brought her fully back into the moment hearing the name. “Oh he is _so_ dead, he hasn’t been answering my texts for two days!”

Great. As if she needed _more_ drama today.

Carrie stormed out of the studio after her and her dad, and as she followed them Julie stole a glance back to the helpless looking Luke, mouthing for him to stay put. Ray led them back through the house, having shaken off the fact that furniture that had been hanging from the ceiling for years fell and nearly killed them a bit too well…but she was grateful he hadn’t asked any questions. As she opened the door she forced herself to put on a genuine smile, knowing that Nick didn’t deserve any of her frustration or anger today.

“Hi, Nick!” She greeted, hoping she didn’t sound too fake.

He swirled around, giving her an odd look before he flashed an almost sly grin at her. He had flowers.

_Oh god, he’s here to ask me out._

She really, really didn’t think she could take anymore today.

“Heyyyyy Julie!” He didn’t sound like himself at all. His voice was much lower than usual, nervous, as though he was speaking to her for the first time. This was just getting weirder and weirder. “You killed it at the Orpheum! I just wanted to give you these.”

He practically shoved the flowers at her, and Julie took them, blinking in surprise.

_Or, maybe he’s just being a genuinely nice guy and you’re the weirdo here._

“Thanks! That’s so sweet. You really didn’t have to.”

“It’s not every day your friend plays the Orpheum,” he grinned. “So…any chance I can meet this band of yours? They were incredible, I’d love to just pick their brains.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’d love to but…”

She trailed off, having been so used to having the They’re Ghosts conversation that she had lost practice of pretending they were from across the globe.

“Time zone differences,” Carrie offered behind her, throwing on a fake smile as she pushed Julie out of the way. “Nice flowers. Julie’s a bit taken already, but it’s nice to know you move so fast.”

Nick looked furious, and Julie couldn’t have felt any more awkward. Truthfully, when she considered it if Nick really was trying to hit on her it was a bit tacky that he came to her right after breaking up with Carrie. Maybe they all (except Carrie) saw the breakup coming, but even she deserved at least a little respect. And Julie didn’t exactly want to be a rebound.

She thought about Luke back in the studio, swaying back and forth on his heels, so anxious, so helpless, desperately wanting her to help him figure this out because he was so clearly lost.

Maybe she _was_ taken.

All she wanted at that moment was to be there with Luke and find the other guys. She wanted figure out how to make them feel _safe_ again. She wanted to protect their souls.

She didn’t want anything to do with…whatever the hell was going on with Nick and Carrie.

“You know, it was a late night,” Julie spoke up, “and it’s been a long day…”

“It’s only noon,” Nick insisted.

“Exactly,” Julie said through gritted teeth. It was getting harder and harder to not lose her cool. “It’s been that long of a day. And you know, you guys should really talk, Carrie was just telling me how hard this breakup has been on her so why don’t you two go have lunch, my treat, and talk things out. Thanks for the flowers, Nick!”

Behind her Carrie looked in shock, Nick looked furious, and maybe she had discounted the weirdness too soon.

“Your treat?” Carrie demanded as Julie pushed her out the door.

“I will send you some money! Go!”

When at last Carrie was outside with Nick, Julie slammed the door and locked it. Ray stood in the kitchen, totally bewildered.

“Julie!” He called after her as she stormed through the house.

“If she comes back, don’t let her in!” Julie exclaimed. “And don’t follow me!”

One thing was for sure, Caleb was not going to risk the limited time he had for possession on helping some jock mend his high school romance.

“I’m not wasting a Saturday going to lunch with you,” he shot to the girl. “I told you, we’re over.”

He tried to not show too much satisfaction as she scoffed at him.

_Who is this girl?_ He mused, searching the memories of this…Nick.

A flashback of the boy and this Carrie lounging on the sofa in a home with platinum record plaques on the wall.

_Trevor Wilson’s daughter._

A bit too evil of a smile flashed across his face as he filed this information under ‘things that would help him later’.

He swirled away from her, not giving him a chance to argue, wondering if this boy had a car parked nearby. He hadn’t driven a car in _decades_ …

Caleb stopped at the familiar voice of one teenaged bassist coming from around the corner. His smile grew; this wouldn’t’ be that hard after all. They were truly that naïve enough to just come back home? Quietly he teleported himself closer, staying behind a tree as he listened in:

“I leave you two alone for one morning and now Alex is missing and you nearly killed Carrie with a chair? By _using your mind_?”

“I told you, I didn’t mean to, I didn’t know how it happened!”

“And you really think Alex went to look for Willie at the skatepark?”

“No…I think he was going back to Caleb’s club. I think he knows there wasn’t a chance Willie will be allowed out of there. I should have gone after him!”

“It’s okay, you knew he needed some space. It’s been a weird day.”

“Yeah…speaking of which…you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah…yeah Luke, I’m fine.”

“We can talk, anytime you need to. I’m worried about you, Reg.”

“I’m okay, I promise. I was just freaked out, but it’s okay.”

Well, didn’t that sound completely unconvincing? What was clear though was that it wasn’t a celebratory morning for the band after all. Things were unfolding exactly how he had imagined when they dared to escape his hold over them. Caleb’s lips curled up into a sinister grin as he tapped his fingers together. He knew it would be easy getting them back- after all if their powers were already strengthening, they wouldn’t have the first idea what to do. He just didn’t think it would be this easy.

First things first, he needed to ditch this body, it was no used to him _(for now)_.

Then he needed to find one certain drummer, and it was rather obvious exactly where he should look…

Alex was more than a little surprised when attempting to teleport into the Hollywood Ghost Club actually worked. When he successfully teleported into what was most definitely Caleb’s office, he suddenly doubted all of his choices. This was just too easy to be true. The anxious part of him wanted to teleport back out while he still had the chance, but one thing he had learned about their teleportation powers was that it was all about trust. Apparently, the most helpful place for him to start searching for Willie was the office of the beast himself.

Made sense.

Course, Caleb couldn’t be helpful and have, say, a map of the place just laying around.

As Alex took in his surroundings, he found the office to be on the smaller side, a place that Caleb didn’t seem to spend a lot of time in. He could imagine the devil himself had a dressing room somewhere, something lavish; and a massive private suite. Instead, the office was dark, surprisingly damp feeling, lit by lanterns on the wall. It contained a bookcase full of books on the history of Los Angeles, the history of magicians, and a large oak desk that faced the wall.

Nothing was on it.

But knowing Caleb, he wouldn’t just have a simple office, would he? His instincts pointed him toward the bookcase.

“Oh, but he couldn’t be that obvious, could he?”

Alex froze at the sound of Caleb’s familiar sing-song voice.

_I was really this stupid._

He stood still as possible as he tried to teleport…and couldn’t.

_Yeah, I walked right into this trap._

“Your powers aren’t working, are they?” Caleb sneered.

He forced himself to spin around. He wasn’t going to get anywhere cowering in the corner. His eyes lifted up slowly, death glaring at the ghost who leaned casually in his office doorway, examining his fingers like he was admiring the power within them.

“You’re forgetting this is _my_ club. You’ve had these powers for all of two seconds, and you really thought you could just waltz in here and face me? I have _decades_ on you.” 

The phantom took a threatening step toward him and Alex stilled, feeling very, very regretful of all his choices. Even worse, no one actually knew he was here. Sure, Luke was likely to figure it out. What had he said? _If you’re not back in three hours I’ll send a search party._

So, at most, in three hours Luke would realize he wasn’t coming back and with any luck, realize Alex had actually been stupid enough to come back here, alone and come after him.

In the meantime…he could do this. He managed to escape Caleb when he tried to possess them the night before, and he could figure out how to again. He just…needed to resist the desperate urge to vomit from nerves so he could come up with a plan. Not that he could throw up even if he wanted to.

“Or…perhaps everyone’s favorite drummer is crawling back to accept my end of the deal?”

Alex blinked. While he couldn’t breathe, psychologically he could practically feel his chest heaving, feel the familiar heat that used to overcome him in a panic, like a fever.

“I’m not…”

“You came back to my club, rather willingly,” Caleb pointed out, taking another step closer. Alex took an instinctive step back; Caleb smirked. “Let me guess…it has to do with a certain skateboarder.”

“Where is he?” He demanded, his voice uncharacteristically cold.

Maybe it was purposefully he needed to walk straight into this…go straight to the monster himself. Face him straight on. Figure out what the _hell_ is going on.

Caleb’s eyes twinkled.

“Young love _is_ rampant today, isn’t it?”

_“Where is he?!”_

The lanterns on the wall flickered; the books on the shelves shook.

And for a split second, Caleb looked _terrified_.

That was all the confidence Alex needed to be convinced that his powers weren’t as muted as Caleb would like him to believe. On instinct, he threw his hands out, pushing the ghost back…only it wasn’t just a push, Caleb flew back, hitting the office door with a thundering _crack_. Alex’s eyes went wide as he realized his own power…the beach, the wind, had been one thing, but actually _hurting_ someone?

Caleb quickly composed himself, casually straightening his cloak even as his eyes flashed with fury. Alex tried to keep his cool, holding onto the hope that whatever was going on, Caleb was threatened by him.

Then, without warning, Alex himself was thrown back. He didn’t have time to prepare for the sickening crack of his back against the wall, or how hard it would _hurt_ when his head snapped back. He saw stars, a fiery pain toward through him.

Of course. If they could eat and drink the Hollywood Ghost Club, of course they could feel pain.

He hung in the air for what felt like an eternity before Caleb sent him crashing into the opposite wall then tumbling back down to the floor. His head smacked against the floor and his vision dazed. Hands shaking, he peeled himself off the floor only to find Caleb’s hand reaching down to help him. The only reason he took it was because he was certain he was going to kill over (ha…ha…) if someone didn’t steady him. Caleb glowered down at him, but his stare was almost one of warning just as much as it was fire.

The room seemed stiller than ever once he got to his feet and pulled himself together, deciding against retaliating.

“What is this place?” Alex demanded, his voice unsteady.

Caleb threw him an almost sympathetic smile.

“You see, that should have been your first question.”

“You’re…actually magic,” the drummer breathed, as though he himself hadn’t mysteriously started a windstorm at the beach, had just fought Caleb without contact or oh, had the ability to the teleport and ability to make his drums appear whenever he wanted.

Being dead was so much more stressful than he had ever imagined.

The ghost’s smile turned up into a sneer as he held either side of the doorframe.

“Oh Alexander-“ he shuddered at the use of his full name, “we all have a little bit of magic inside us. Why do you think the stakes are so high?”

Alex couldn’t help but to glance down at his own hands, thinking back to all the sets they had played, every drum solo, every long weekend he had spent hammering away, pounding out all of his anxieties into their music. Sure, what Sunset Curve had always felt like magic. And what they had with Julie most certainly seemed like some kind of magic.

But actual magical abilities…how was it possible he possessed anything like that?

A hand suddenly clamped over his wrist, hard. Alex struggled to get away but Caleb only squeezed harder, keeping him close.

“You see,” Caleb continued, “all ghosts possess a little bit of magic when they come back to life. After all, we manage to anchor ourselves to the earth instead of crossing over to…wherever. We do that with our own desires, insecurities, unrequited love, unfinished business. Few ghosts truly understand this power because if they did, well, imagining having just millions of pissed off, melancholy ghosts who possessed magic walking around. That is what the Ghost Club is for, a sort of, safe haven for us ghost to be able to live out our afterlife and manage this power.”

_He’s trying to distract me,_ Alex told himself as he struggled, _focus on Willie._

Yet…it actually made as much sense as anything he had learned about the afterlife thus far. It was just too easy to write everything off as if you want your drums, ask for them because they’re attached to your souls, wasn’t it? _Something_ had to control all of this.

“I’m sure you love owning everyone’s ghost powers,” Alex snapped. At last he had the strength to jerk himself away and put a foot of distance between he and the other phantom. “But I’m not here to sell my soul to you.”

“You’re here for William, yes?” Alex hesitated, trying to maintain his composure…he offered a single nod. “You see, I gave him a very clear warning what would happen to him if he tried to help you three, and it’s my understanding that he did more than help. He practically orchestrated your little…escape plan. It really does no good for me to keep that kind of disloyalty around.”

_He’ll destroy me._ Alex felt sick remembering the pain in Willie’s voice as he confessed how much was at stake if he helped them. It was a fear greater than death.

He could feel the fight burning in him again as his hands balled into fist at his sides.

_“What did you do to him?!”_ His voice roared as books flew off the shelf behind Caleb, but the magician only laughed.

At last, Caleb sighed.

“If you really want to know…”

He waved a hand toward Alex and in the blink of the eye Alex was transported…into darkness.

An all too familiar darkness.

_No._

The dark room.

Where he had unknowingly spent an entire twenty-five years of his…afterlife. Longer than he had actually been alive.

Now he was panicking. The heat that had been boiling within him shook him to the core as he trembled, frantically scrambling on the floor as he tried to gain any sense of where he was in hope that he was wrong.

Then he noticed the shadow of a figure laying on the ground…trembling. Body contorting into pain, like he was seizing.

“Willie!”

Alex scrambled to him, his eyes wide and tears swelling as his hands lay on the young skater, who was curled on his side in pain. Totally oblivious to the reality around him.

Reality…this might as well have been an extension of his nightmare. He could only hope to god it was.

Caleb appeared towering over him, looking still ever so casual, ever so unconcerned.

“What’s happening to him?” Alex’s shaky voice demanded, though a pit fell in his stomach, knowing that he knew exactly what was happening.

“His soul is being destroyed…piece by piece.”

The tears were flowing steadily now as he threw himself at his friends’ body, his non-existent heart torn with pain, knowing that Willie was only going through this because of him.

And for what?

They hadn’t even gotten to crossover. This couldn’t all just be for them to wake up in whatever hell they were in, just to what… _play music_?

“Please!” His cries echoed in the room, though there were no tangible walls or doors. “I’ll do anything.”

It terrified him to say it even as he did, but he owed it to Willie. It was one thing for his friend to be stranded in this hell hole, one thing to have his soul owned for his afterlife…but he didn’t deserve this.

“Anything?” Caleb teased. Alex nodded, having never felt so helpless. Even death had been quicker than this… The ghost crouched down beside him, feigning sympathy as his eyes scanned over his former servant. “It’s nearly done. But we can…put this on pause. I could save his soul…if I had yours in return.”

Alex took a step back on instinct, but it was like something in the universe was pushing him back toward Caleb. On the floor Willie twisted and turned, his face normally sweet, full of confidence now contorted into pain and anguish.

He was overcome at the horrific realization that this was Caleb’s plan all along. He was that much of an open book that Caleb knew all he had to do was take Willie, punish Willie, and he’d have Alex that easily. And Alex literally walked right into his trap and fell for it. He was _that_ weak.

And now he really had no choice, did he? Caleb was glaring down at Willie like he was physically snapping his soul apart, with no regard to how much work the ghost had done for him, no regard for anyone he cared about in this world or anyone who cared about him.

And all because of him…for Caleb to get to him.

How was he supposed to let Willie suffer because of his own weakness?

_“Please.”_

Alex stuck out his hand.

Caleb’s eyes lit up with an eerie delight, but he couldn’t bring himself to react. He could only brace himself, anticipating the tight hold as Caleb clamped his arm down on his wrist and anticipate the sharp jolt that followed.

He was in so much shock, he was so desperate that he hardly felt it.

This time.

His eyes widened in horror when this time it wasn’t a purple stamp that embedded into his wrist but a black one. Surely that couldn’t be good…

From beyond the dark room a bell suddenly tolled once…twice…twelve times. Caleb grinned.

“It’s the haunting hour,” he explained slyly, just as he did that night at the club. How was it already midnight?! “How about this, I will grant you one hour of…freedom. You are to go back to your friends. Tell them they can either join you in joining me, or they can be hunted down…one by one.”

The drummer shook so badly he wasn’t sure how he was even staying still. His eyes slammed shut, trying to block out the image of Caleb going after Luke, or Reggie…Reggie, who had secretly fought too many battles already.

“And Alex?” His eyes shot open, clouded with tears. “That goes for Ms. Molina as well. I can’t imagine it’s a coincidence that she is connected to all of this. In fact…I think I will start with her first.”

“No!” He screamed, trying to find any energy- any _power_ \- left in him to fight back. But it was like he was drained of everything. “Do. Not. Touch. Her.”

“You’ve really given me no choice,” Caleb declared. “After all, if it wasn’t for your little stunt last night I never would have had any idea just _how_ powerful you three were. Trust me, it would really be for your own good that you three would be harbored here, in the safety of my club, because I can assure you, I am not the only who will be interested in three young ghosts so powerful that they brought themselves back _twenty-five years_ after their death and can make themselves visible to lifers.”

Oh god.

How was he so naïve to not consider there might be more out there like Caleb?

A sickening feeling washed over him as Alex wondered truly, for the first time, if maybe they had crossed over…and this was just their version of hell.

“Clock’s ticking,” Caleb warned as he promptly let go of Alex’s wrist. “Oh and, Alex, don’t even think about trying to run. You have my black mark, you’re tethered to me now. This isn’t an invitation. If you try to out run me or if your friends try to help you escape, your soul takes the hit, and when I do catch them it will be _much_ worse for them.”

And with that Caleb simply pushed him away, sending him spiraling through space and time, until he landed back in the studio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I debated for a long time how much magic should be in this because, truth be told, I'm not a huge fan of magic suddenly appearing in a fictional world. But. Then I was like let's be real, Caleb can make ghosts visible to lifers, he can fly, he can possess people, he can change what people are wearing, he has magically sealed off the Ghost Club to the world...there is definitely magic at play here. And this story explores that ;) 
> 
> Anyway, I'm so happy people are enjoying this story so far, and I would love to know your thoughts so far! Thanks so much for the comments and kudos! I have about 100 pages of this written...yup...I'm proud. Not including a good 20 pages or so edited out or revised. I'm thinking I might do Thursday and Sunday updates or something like that since enough of it is already written. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!


	4. Now You See Me (Now You Don't)

“Alex!”

He looked up, startled to find Luke, Julie and Reggie racing toward him. While he was momentarily relieved to see Reggie had made his way back to the studio, looking uncharacteristically quiet but well, his eyes dashed around in horror between his three friends. All he could imagine was them being tortured by Caleb’s magic as he searched for a way to control them…

“Oh my god, your face!” Julie exclaimed, gently bringing a hand up to his cheek. He really, really hadn’t meant to flinch. “You’re all bruised… _how_?”

Luke stepped in front of him first, searching his face, daring him to lie about where he had been.

“You went back there, didn’t you?”

He couldn’t respond. He couldn’t even nod. He just felt so stupid, so helpless. It was all he could do to not flee, to run as far as he could…but the black stamp…he could only imagine Caleb’s wrath if he had to hunt him down.

Behind Luke, Reggie stayed silent, arms crossed, still looking a bit shaken from the day’s events and even more so now, but his eyes were filled with concern for him. He really didn’t like having this kind of attention on him.

“I’m sorry,” Alex choked out. It was all he needed for Luke to throw his arms around him, then Reggie, then Julie. It felt so much like the night before, when they had been on top of the world, feeling like their problems had all magically drifted away. Unknowing they had inherited about a hundred more problem.

“It’s okay,” Luke promised quietly to the band circle. “We’ll find a way to get Willie back.”

Alex could only shake his head. He was trying to not focus on the fact that he felt so drained of energy he was even more exhausted than the previous night; he really wasn’t sure how he was even standing. But if he let them do this, let him sit down and get wrapped up in a heart to heart, it would make leaving again that much harder.

“Caleb’s _destroying_ his soul,” Alex finally confessed, feeling guilty for the pained looks that crossed his two phantom friend’s faces as they truly considered what that meant. “I saw him. I didn’t have a choice, I couldn’t leave him there like that!”

“What did you do?” Luke demanded slowly. He flinched at how betrayed his friend already sounded…and they didn’t even know the half of it yet.

Julie threw the guitarist a warning look before carefully playing her hand on Alex’s arms, searching his eyes to tell him _you can trust us_. But at that moment the black mark on his wrist glowed and Julie jumped back. Luke and Reggie stared in horror.

“Please tell me you didn’t…” Reggie finally spoke up. Alex stared after him helplessly, feeling all of the exhaustion and sickness that was sweeping over Reggie’s face at the confession.

“All for Willie?” Luke shot, stepping in front of the other two. He shuddered, feeling too claustrophobic and tried to step back but Luke’s anger filled the space between them easily. “Look, I know he helped us out in the end but he also got us into all of this in the first place! You just met him, how much do you even know about him to sell your soul for him?!”

How was that even a question? It didn’t matter if he had known Willie for a month or years…their connection was something Alex had never felt before, not even with Luke. He couldn’t explain it, it _was_ magic, maybe- hell, everything else was- but Alex could feel it in his soul that he needed to protect him.

His soul that he didn’t even own any more.

His eyes fell shut, desperately pushing away the anxiety eating him inside out.

Worse, Alex didn’t even know what that meant, to have his soul owned, because when he was with Willie it was like this instant incredible connection, something that surely couldn’t be felt with someone that Caleb _owned_. But then again, he was beginning to understand that Willie only ever lived on borrowed time, just like Alex was right now. And if the rush of desperation, fear for his friends, desire to get them safe- anywhere safe, was any sort of preview of what that borrowed time would feel like…he could begin to understand why emotions just seemed to run so strongly between them when he was around him.

“I know enough to know that I’m all he has,” Alex spoke up, feeling like he was having to force his voice out of his windpipe. God, he had known what a horrible, horrible mistake he had made going back to the Ghost Club but seeing their faces, the anger, the betrayal, the concern…it just made it all so real.

_I sold my soul._

“Yeah, well you’ve fallen hard pretty fast before,” Luke mumbled.

His words cut like a knife. It felt like he had been slammed against the wall all over again.

“Dude, that’s not fair,” Reggie shot in a hushed tone.

Confusion flashed across Julie’s face but she thankfully didn’t press them for explanation, instead sticking her hands in the pocket of her jeans and turning back to Alex as Luke stepped away.

How was he possibly losing them already? Luke’s watch read that it was already 12:15 AM. He had forty-five minutes to do this and get them out of there.

“It’s not just that!” He announced, catching Luke’s attention. And exactly what was he supposed to say now? _Apparently, we’re magic?_ Right. They looked like they’d believe that…then again, Luke did witness that windstorm on the beach… “Caleb, he says that we have this…power. All ghosts have some kind of power, but apparently, we’re _really_ powerful. He’s threatened by us, and I don’t think it’s just because we’re visible when we play. It’s not just about wanting us for his house band, he wants our power.”

Not surprisingly, three blank faces stared back him. Luke looked the most troubled, maybe because he was thinking of the windstorm on the beach, but it was like he was recognizing something inside of him…like maybe what Alex was saying possibly made at least a little bit of sense.

“But…we don’t have any powers!” Reggie exclaimed, glancing between his two friends like he was missing out on something. “Besides teleportation, but that’s just a normal ghost thing, right? And the instruments thing…but there hasn’t been anything else! Well, I guess besides Luke almost killing Carrie with that chair…”

Alex raised an eyebrow, but Luke didn’t look like he was willing to participate in storytime right now. Reggie looked between them desperately, like he could already sense that he was left out of the magical capabilities club.

“I kind of…made a windstorm on the beach earlier,” Alex admitted. “And I sort of threw Caleb against the wall…with my mind…”

His three friends blinked.

“Yeah, well I’m glad you two are having fun with your magical powers!” Reggie whined. “I still can’t even make a freaking pizza appear!”

“You couldn’t eat it even if you could,” Luke pointed out.

The last thing Alex needed right now was these two bickering or Reggie feeling jealous about missing out on powers that _barely_ existed.

“Stop!” He exclaimed, earning him three surprised looks that Alex would actually yell at them. “Don’t you understand? Caleb is _after us_. He’s not just after our power, he’s after our _souls_. And he’s not going to stop until he has that.”

“What does that mean?” Julie demanded.

His eyes fell on her, helpless. Julie really didn’t deserve any of this. They still didn’t know why they were even here, why her. Their friend certainly didn’t seem to have any kind of power…

_Except she can make you visible when you sing with her…and last night she made you tangible._

Julie probably had more power than the three of them combined and had no idea.

“It’s not just us,” Alex went on, his hands stuffed deep in the pocket of his hoodie as he forced himself to meet her eyes. She deserved the truth. As much as he wanted to protect her, as much as he wanted tell the guys to get her out of her, take her anywhere away from here…she deserved to know why there was as much at stake for her as them. “He says that you seem to be connected to us, to our powers, and you might have them too.”

Her mouth fell open, closed, open again. She held up a hand, trying to process…but she didn’t say anything. She also didn’t question him.

“Is that why she can make us visible?” Reggie asked.

“I don’t know,” Alex said, turning back to Julie. “But Caleb’s threatened by you too. He wants you too."

He might as well have punched Luke in the face with the way his friend suddenly stepped in front of the singer, grabbing onto her hand like Alex himself would whisk her away to Caleb.

“He can’t have her!” Luke exclaimed. “This isn’t…this isn’t fair.”

“None of this is fair!” Alex shouted back. “None of this has ever been fair, _ever_ , for any of us!”

The studio lights flickered madly, as though agreeing with him, and he tried to shake off the energy creeping inside him, itching to burst out of him as uncontrolled power. Reggie looked up at the flickering lights, his eyes wide as he began to realize just what these powers Alex had talked about were like.

“So what are we supposed to do?” Julie asked, stepping back in front of Luke, one hand grasping his right hand and the other resting on his arm, as though to keep him back. “Because Caleb can’t have me, he can’t have any of you! I don’t care what kind of deal you made, Alex, we have to fix this.”

His heart broke at the innocent of her voice, like they could just easily face Caleb like that and demand to be freed from his pursuit.

“He said he’ll hunt you down.” His voice was barely above a whisper but god if that didn’t _terrify_ his friends. Luke looked ready to kill. “And I can’t try to run and you guys can’t help me escape or _anything_ because the mark he gave me tethers me to him. Look, I don’t have a lot of time. He gave me until 1 AM to try to talk you guys into coming back with me- which I don’t want you to do- but I think that’s when Caleb’s going to start going after you.”

“Then he can come after us!” Luke shot, motioning between him and Reggie. “But he will _not_ touch Julie.”

“I’m not the enemy here!” Alex cried desperately, holding up his hands in defense. “I promise…I only wanted to be there to help Willie.”

“And what about us?!” Luke exclaimed.

Julie raised a hand to his chest, as though trying any calming touch to bring him back down.

“If he wants us this badly then he would have come after us regardless,” Julie pointed out. Nevertheless, she looked hesitant as she turned back to Alex, as though trying to decide what to think…who to trust. And it broke him like nothing else that night to know that his deal had made more than just an impact on his soul. His own friends didn’t even know if they could trust him anymore. “What do you think we should do?”

Alex began to pace, trying to get his brain flowing, redirecting his panic to formulate a plan.

“Caleb said that we’re strongest together. I think you guys need to split up. He wants all of us, so who knows he can fulfill, whatever his plan is, without all of us.”

“That’s nice, but he’s found us easy enough before,” Luke shot, “and splitting up hasn’t worked for us too well today, if you haven’t noticed.”

The drummer gaped at him, absolutely hating how easy it had been for Luke to turn on him. It wasn’t that Luke wasn’t sympathetic to what had happened to him, he knew, he caught his friend eyeing the bruises that had (somehow) formed on his pale face. But Alex knew it was true…maybe Caleb would have still gone after them, but he had fallen right into his trap. And now, just like that, they were all in danger…with a tight deadline.

“Do you think it’s better if we just go to him?” Reggie asked, cautious to how Luke would react. “Maybe we can make some kind of deal to protect Julie…”

And predictably, their friend rounded on him, his arms thrown up in the air.

“We don’t just give in!” Luke cried; Alex flinched, his friend might as well have slapped him in the face with that statement. “Whatever this afterlife is, this was our second chance and it’s not going to be stolen from us like our actual life was! And whatever happens, we are not taking Julie down with us.”

“I can fight my own battles, Luke!” Julie shot.

Her eyes shot over to Alex, pleading with him to do anything to make this better. It was like she was waiting for the big “gotcha” moment. He turned back to Luke, pleading with him to trust him.

“You’ve got to get her out of here,” he said. “I can figure out a way to stall him.”

“We can fight him!” She tried, desperation rising in her voice.

“We’re not strong enough!” Alex exclaimed. “I took one shot at Caleb and he took _everything_ out of me.”

“What kind of powers are these if we can’t fight him?” Julie cried out, pushing Luke away as he tried to consult her.

“Julie…Julie!” Luke insisted, grabbing her arms to make her face her. When she did tears were swelling in her eyes. He tried not to think of all Julie had to lose…her dad…her brother, her family, her best friend…her whole _future_. He and Luke looked at each other again, and he knew his friend understood. “We are _not_ risking your life, it’s out of the question! If running is our best chance at keeping you safe, I’ll take you as far away from here as I need to!”

“You’re not taking her anywhere.”

All four of them jumped. The room fell still at Ray’s sudden presence in the studio doorway. Alex could practically hear Julie’s heart skip a beat she was so startled. Ever so slowly the boys turned toward her dad, feeling very much like children who were caught sneaking out.

It was then that Luke and Julie looked at their arms and hands touching, realizing…

Their hands and arms were still connected, keeping contact. Alex stayed still, like maybe it would make him less seen somehow, even though Ray’s eyes were deadest on the boy who was clinging to his daughter.

“Dad…” Julie started, but what exactly was she supposed to say?

_Hey dad, you know the holograms? They’re actually my ghost band. They just discovered they have magica powers and some evil ghost is after their souls…oh, and he’s after me too. And now they want me to go on the run to hide from him._

Alex stole a glance to the watch around Luke’s wrist, noting the 12:30 AM time. Thirty minutes. 

When Julie didn’t continue, Ray stepped forward into the room, his eyes wild in a way Alex hadn’t seen in him before as he stared at his daughter and the phantom. They were an _angry dad_ kind of wild…Alex knew the look well. Reggie too, he noticed, visibly stiffened as Ray approached them.

“I heard the shouting when I got up to get something to drink and noticed that you weren’t in your room,” Ray began, his voice lower than Alex had heard before, slightly shaking. He was doing her the decency of trying to keep his cool despite the fact that he was obviously mortified to find her in the arms of some teenage boy- after midnight- out in the studio, talking about leaving somewhere.

“He does that a lot,” Reggie cut in, whispering to his three friends, “he gets up in the middle of the night and makes tea. He hasn’t been sleeping well.”

“Excuse me?”

Reggie froze, mortified as he dared to turn back around to Ray. All ghost drama aside, Alex felt badly for him. He knew that Reggie had developed an odd sort of attachment to Julie’s father. He had obviously never been close to his own father, and he seemed mesmerized at what a normal family life with a normal dad would be like. He knew this was the very last way Reggie would ever want to be discovered by him.

“You can see me?” Reggie squeaked, pointing at himself- as though Ray would be talking about anyone else.

Beside him, Julie and Luke stared back down at their hands and up at each other, confused, and stepped a part to test it.

“Can you still see me?” Luke asked carefully.

Ray didn’t answer, still gaping at Reggie instead.

“Dude…I don’t think he can,” Alex realized.

His friend grabbed Julie’s hand quickly, in an absolute panic when Ray’s eyes lit up in surprise, clearly just now seeing him again.

“But you can see me?” Reggie reiterated, noting his lack of hand holding with Julie.

Ray blinked.

“Yes, of course I can see you.”

Poor Reggie looked like he didn’t know if he should be thrilled or scared. He half looked like he wanted to rush over and throw his arms around Ray and half like he wanted to disappear on the spot.

“Dude, I think that’s your power!” Luke realized.

“Yes!” Reggie proclaimed, pumping a fist in the air. “Best power _ever_!” 

Julie couldn’t have looked any more embarrassed as she pressed her free hand tightly against her forehead, breathing in and out slowly.

“And me?” Alex spoke up, waving a hand in front of Ray. No reaction. A pit fell in his stomach as he realized: “He can’t see me.”

His friend eyed him with pity as she offered him her free hand. He took it, secretly grateful to finally have contact with someone. The truth was he was hurting, he was overrun with anxiety, he was _tired_. He had no idea what he had gotten himself into and he was terrified of losing his friends. Both literally…and because he felt like he had betrayed them.

Ray’s eyes widened when Alex suddenly appeared, but he quickly frowned and stepped forward, concerned as his eyes scanned the bruises on the drummer’s face.

“Are you okay?” Ray asked quietly. His eyes dashed between Julie and Alex; his chest rose up and down a bit quicker as the stress of the situation they were in started to dawn on them.

He flashed back to that day he got beat up coming home from school. His father’s reaction…he didn’t care if he was okay, all he cared about was what trouble had Alex gotten himself into now. And when he found out…he still didn’t care.

“I’m fine,” Alex muttered; he let out a heavy sigh when Ray didn’t seem convinced. “It’s just for show.”

That was the truth, wasn’t it? Caleb wanted to scare him, like he could really, physically hurt him. He wanted to scare his friends, worry them, at the sight of him.

Obviously not understanding, Ray turned back to his daughter, his eyes shifting from Alex’s beat-up face to the two hands connected to her hands.

“Mija…what is going on?”

Julie decided the best way to approach this was to separate her dad from the guys…not to mention she was slightly afraid that Ray would find out Luke was tangible and might literally try to throw him out. She actually found herself grateful for the fresh air as she led her dad outside the studio, leaving the guys speechless, helpless inside. As soon as she stepped into the crisp, cool night air it was like a weight lifted from her for just a moment and she doubled over, hands on her hips, just trying to _breathe_.

Alex had sold his soul.

He had been held captive and beat up by Caleb.

Caleb was threatening to hunt them down if they join him.

It was a _lot_.

How was she even supposed to begin to explain this to her father who, until this moment, thought her band was made of holograms of guys who lived in Sweden?

“Hey,” her dad said softly, bending down to her. “Julie, please be honest with me. Are you in some kind of danger?”

She couldn’t help it.

The tears flooded out of her and she _hated_ it. The guys were ready to take on the world for her, Luke was literally ready to run from everything he had left and do everything in his power to protect her. Even Alex was holding up after everything he had been through. They didn’t have time for her to break down. Luke’s watch had read 12:35 AM and she sobbed harder at the reminder, bringing a shaky hand to her mouth.

Her dad wrapped his arms around her, straightening her up, letting her rest her head on his shoulders. And god did it feel so good, finally being able to break down in his arms over those damn ghosts.

It had all just been a lot, from the start, and while Flynn was a great shoulder to cry on and excellent voice of reason, she had longed for those late-night talks with her dad again, feeling like she could tell him anything. It had hurt, so much, having to lie to him. She wanted to be able to celebrate their successes, celebrate their music with him, not hide. She wanted her dad to be able to see how much Reggie loved hanging out with him and how wonderful and caring the guys were.

Now Reggie had met him in a worst-case scenario kind of way. Beyond worst case scenario; of all the scenarios she would have never imagined…

“Julie,” her dad pleaded. “I won’t be mad, I promise. Please. Whatever it is, let me help you.”

She nodded- yes, his help. That was all she wanted. She wanted for him to be able to figure this out, in that magical dad way of his, and solve all her problems for her. It wasn’t fair to him, and she knew it wasn’t possible, but at that moment she totally gave in.

She needed her dad.

As Julie pulled herself away, wiping at her exhausted, tear-stained face, he placed a supportive hand on her shoulder as she told him everything.

She told him about the night she found their CD on the loft and the band came back.

…about how they had died in ’95 and magically came back in 2020.

…about how they had been hanging out in the garage and Reggie adored spending time with him.

…about how Trevor Wilson was really Bobby and how he stole their legacy.

…about how they found Caleb and were stamped.

…about how they needed to find out their unfinished business.

…about how they escaped, how they were somehow freed of his curse, but hadn’t crossed over and somehow became tangible.

…about how Alex went in search of Willie and sold his soul over to save him.

…about how they apparently had _magical powers._

…about how they had- exactly twenty-one minutes- to figure this out.

…about how the guys thought the best course of action was for her to _run_.

As she poured out her heart and soul she had her dad’s full attention. He didn’t protest, didn’t even react, just gazed at her with those big, worry-filled, eyes of his, trying to figure this out for her even as he was learning all of this for the first time. She was out of breath as she finished, grateful that he was still holding onto her.

“I guess we should go back to the guys?” Her dad asked, sensing that while the fresh air was nice it was breaking her heart to not be beside them.

She just nodded and let out a long breath, feeling a sting in her chest as they went back inside. In the studio, the guys hadn’t strayed far, standing shoulder to shoulder as always. Julie threw them a small smile; she always admired how close they always were. Even when they argued. Even when they were scared- _especially_ when they were scared. They were always by each other’s’ side, and it had pained her when Luke had lashed out at Alex, even though she could understand where his anger come from, because damn if it looked like the only thing the drummer needed right then wasn’t just one big hug.

It killed her that Caleb had hurt him purposefully, it seemed like, just to scare him, to scare _them_ , to force him to walk around with bruises that shouldn’t exist. She immediately slipped her arm around him. The anxiety coursing through him was practically painted on his face, but she was relieved that he seemed to ease at least a little under her touch. Next she grabbed Luke’s hand.

Her dad turned to face Alex first.

“I understand you’re on a deadline?”

Alex nodded numbly, looking ill. Julie squeezed him tighter, and Luke placed an arm around them both.

“And you really think the best thing for Julie right now, would be for her to run?” Her dad asked.

She felt terrible for them; they were just seventeen at heart. Alex had been placed in an impossible situation today. God only knew how exhausted, how drained, they all were. Truly, how could they possibly know what was best for her right now?

But he nodded, more confident than she had seen them before.

“Yes,” Alex spoke up, his voice weak, but echoing how strongly he felt about this plan. “Just long enough for me to figure out how to take him down. We don’t know how Caleb or his powers or even _our_ powers really work. I saw him destroy my friend’s soul and the only thing I could do to stop him was offer him mine. We can’t just storm in there, not with Julie’s life at stake. And this stamp he put on me, he said it tethers me too him. If I try to escape or out run him, I don’t know what will happen. We can’t risk him doing the same to Julie.”

“I still think we could fight-“ she tried.

“No!” All four men exclaimed, without even rounding on her.

Luke stepped up, his palm still grasping her hand; as she clung to him, she could swear she could feel old calluses from his guitar. He felt like blood should be boiling under his skin.

“Sir, I’m really, truly sorry you had to find out about us this way,” he offered sincerely. Julie had to admit she was impressed; Luke was clearly ready for a world of a fight but it was like what was truly on his mind was trying to make this right to her dad.

Her dad nodded, appreciative but still in so much shock.

“You can protect her?” He stated. It was a mix between a question and an order.

Luke nodded.

“Yes. I promise you,” he turned back to Julie, gazing into her eyes, searching for her trust. “I never intended for you to get brought into this mess with Caleb, and I will _not_ let him hurt you.”

“Guys…” Reggie started, pointing at Luke’s watch.

It was 12:45.

“You’ve got to get her out of here,” Alex announced, as though settling that for them fair and square. He pushed them both away from the group, like he was ready to send them off, just like that. “I can stall Caleb. Maybe I can make some other kind of deal…”

“No!” All three teenagers exclaimed.

“No more deals!” Luke shot. “I’ll make sure Julie is somewhere safe, and then we’ll figure out how to get rid of him, for good.”

She hated the tension between Luke and Alex right now. After tonight, god only knew how long it would be before they were together again and they were not about to go out in an argument. Reggie looked uncomfortable too, uncharacteristically rigid and silently begging everything to just _stop_.

“Mija, maybe we should give them a minute,” Ray offered, cutting the tension in the room in half.

She dreaded having to leave them, wanting to do what they could to mend whatever this was before they had to split. But she knew her dad was right…the guys deserved their chance to say goodbye.

“We need to talk about how this going to work,” her dad announced, slowly leading her away from the guys.

It was like Luke was frozen. His body was in shock at how much had happened just in the past forty-five minutes. He had spent all day, anticipating what kind of trouble Alex had gotten himself into, but he didn’t imagine this. He had been ready to storm the Ghost Club himself, but Reggie and Julie had both pointed out that if there’s any chance Alex wasn’t there and they got in there and got themselves in trouble again it would have all been for nothing. And he really, really hadn’t meant to lash out at his best friend, especially not as he stood there, so beaten and just _done_ , on a freaking deadline, as he they tried to figure this out. But Luke kept thinking that if Alex had just waited until they could all look for Willie together, maybe even if they had all even gone back to the Ghost Club together, they could have found a different way. Yes, Caleb would have still been after them. But his best friend wouldn’t have had to hand over his soul like that.

As the three of them were left alone to say goodbye, Luke felt sick. It felt like Alex was dying all over again, and he had to push away the images of his friend laying lifeless in the ambulance…

“Remember just over 24 hours ago when we were so excited to play the Orpheum?” Reggie spoke up.

A sad smile crossed Alex’s face. The Orpheum felt like years ago, not last night.

“Yeah, I’m beginning to think that place is cursed.” Alex sounded like a shell of himself, even as he attempted to joke. “Luke…”

“It’s okay,” Luke offered, his voice starting to break.

“It’s really not.”

No, nothing about this was okay. Of course it wasn’t. But the guilt of being angry with him about it was starting to seep in as he watched Alex’s face melted with anguish. He knew his friend. He knew that going into the devil’s layer was the last thing Alex would ever _want_ to do. He knew that kind of bravery only came from a place of deep worry, concern and love.

“No,” he sighed in agreement. “I know you wouldn’t have made a deal unless you really needed to. I’m sorry you’re going through this.”

“Yeah, same,” Reggie whispered.

Luke swallowed, trying to will himself to not break down but at this point if he did, he did. He just knew once he lost it, Alex would, then Reggie…and then they’d be helpless. They had to stay strong, but he knew Alex and what Alex would need at that moment was just for them to be there for me. He stepped forward, closing the space between them with a hug and Reggie followed, wrapping his long arms around the both of them. It was silent as they stood there, just holding each other.

Reggie’s beautiful laughter echoed in the room without warning and the guys looked up, faint bemused grins plastered on their faces.

“What?” Alex questioned, like _how on earth could anything be funny right now_.

“Remember when we were thirteen and we played that talent show?” The bassist asked. Luke’s eyes lit up at the memory he hadn’t thought about in ages. “It was the first time we ever played on an actual stage. We fought about what song to do for days and then Alex, you spent like two hours throwing up before we went on and you were so nervous one of your drumsticks slipped out of your hand in the first verse and it hit Luke in the face?”

He and Reggie laughed while Alex glared, wondering how this was supposed to make him feel better. Luke could remember that night so clearly. That was back when Sunset Curve was just him, Reggie and Alex, before they met Bobby. Before Luke himself was naïve enough to think Bobby was a friend, and convinced the guys to let him join the band.

“It wasn’t my finest moment,” Alex mumbled.

“I’m just thinking about if only I could tell thirteen-year-old you that one day you’d be brave enough to face an evil ghost demon on your own in hopes of saving your one true love’s soul.”

Luke grinned; he could have sworn a bit of a blush was blossoming among the phantom bruises on Alex’s face.

“Willie is _not_ my one true love,” Alex insisted, though obviously they wouldn’t buy it. “I just…care very deeply about him.”

Reggie and Luke laughed, and he was grateful for the break in the intensity of the moment.

“You literally sold your soul to save his soul,” Luke pointed out, wrapping one hand gingerly around Alex’s stamped wrist and patting his shoulder with the other. “You’re in love.”

“Absolutely head over heels,” Reggie chimed in.

“Can we stop talking about selling our souls?” The drummer muttered.

Once again they fell silent, still holding onto each other like if they clung together long enough the universe couldn’t possibly separate them. Reggie squeezed his shoulder, a faint attempt to ease the tension that was making him feel like something was sitting on his chest. It was 12:50.

_I can’t do this._

_I can._

_I have to._

“I’ve been thinking-” Reggie said suddenly.

“-that’s always dangerous,” Alex teased; and for a split second, he seemed like his usual self.

They exchanged half-hearted smiles, but they didn’t argue as their friend continued:

“Ray and Carlos need to be involved in this as little as possible. Maybe Julie is magic too, but they’re not. They can’t just stay back here by themselves, Caleb might try to use them against us. I’ll stay here and protect them. If there’s any actual magic in me, it will let me do that.”

Luke was taken aback, impressed with Reggie’s bravery. He had known that Reggie had grown close to Julie’s family in his own little way. While Luke definitely didn’t have anything against the Molinas, he wasn’t exactly looking for a father figure or even a new afterlife family. He was more than happy to just enjoy having Julie around and haunt their garage. Reggie had always been just as ambitious as the rest of them, just as ready to take on the world…but he thrived with his friends. To volunteer to stay behind, when he wasn’t even sure what powers he had, he was grateful his friend had found that kind of confidence in himself.

“I just don’t think it’s a coincidence that Ray can suddenly see me, without Julie’s help,” Reggie explained. “And I know that he’d rather be the one to go with you guys, but we can’t risk bringing him into this too. And Carlos…so Luke, you take Julie, and I’ll make sure they’re safe here. If Caleb comes after me…I’ll give him everything I’ve got, but I’ll make sure he doesn’t touch them.”

Luke squeezed his shoulders, feeling nothing but pride for his friend and Alex patted his back, his face also full of admiration.

“We saw ghost teleport lifers into the Ghost Club, so if we’re supposedly so powerful, I can get Julie away from here and somewhere safe,” Luke said, “she’s never even met Caleb, so I don’t think he could have any kind of sixth sense to be able to find her. I won’t be gone long.”

“Since you guys don’t have his stamp, I don’t think he can track you down so easy,” Alex chimed in, looking pained as he left out _like he can me_.

Reggie looked like he was trying to consider how he should explain to Ray that his family might not be safest at home because an evil ghost had tracked them down and knew that was the house they haunted, but he stayed quiet. They all just wanted to relish in this goodbye.

None of them wanted to peel away, but the clock was ticking. Ever so gently his hand brushed against middle of Alex’s back, a ghost of a reminder that _I’m here for you_ , before he turned to embrace Reggie.

“I should check on Julie,” he said quietly, before throwing them a final, supportive smile, trying to muster together all the confidence he could as he announced: “We’ve got this, guys.”

The other two just stood there, numb as he disappeared away, leaving them to their goodbye.

When he appeared outside of Julie’s room, he forced himself to take some deep breaths to psychologically calm himself down. He hated how worn he felt, how his face felt just stained with emotion. The adrenaline should still be building, he thought, if they were going to get away with this he would _have_ to be stronger. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what Julie was going through, finding out she was supposedly magical and some even ghost devil was after her soul, that she’d have to flee her family…let alone what Ray was going through, having only found out they weren’t holograms less than an hour ago. Drawing out a final long breath, he knocked softly on Julie’s bedroom door.

The door opened with a click, and he was a little than relieved to find Julie’s bright eyes gazing up at him. If he was going to do this, he was grateful to do it with someone as strong and confident as Julie. He knew, deep down, that she picked the guys up far more than they were helpful to her. Together they made a phenomenal team, and a spike in confidence hit him.

She had changed clothes, he noted, dressed now in comfortable leggings and a non-descript baby blue sweatshirt and sneakers; like she was preparing layers for being on the run. A backpack sat open on her bed, and the realization sank in that he would be on the run with a _lifer_ , a living breathing human girl that he’d need to be able provide food, water and shelter for.

Ray was doing some deep breathing of his own, only noticing Luke had entered when Julie spoke:

“Are the guys okay?”

He nodded.

“Yeah, as okay as they can be, I guess.”

She squeezed his arm before pulling him into the room. His eyes finally met Ray’s, and Luke couldn’t have felt any worse for getting Julie into this mess than he did at that moment.

“I’m so sorry-“

Ray shook his head and raised a hand for him to stop him.

“It just…is what it is. As long as Julie is safe…”

“She will be,” Luke promised, though a knot twisted inside him, knowing there was no way he could actually assure that to her father. And her father looked like he understood that.

Let out a long breath, Ray turned back to Julie.

“What’s the first thing you’re going to do when you get to…wherever you go?”

“Let you know that we’re safe,” she recited.

Ray turned to Luke and handed him a piece of paper with names and phone numbers.

“Emergency contacts,” Ray explained. “In case you two get separated…call me. If you need anything, find a way to contact me.”

“I will,” he promised as he carefully folded the list of names and numbers and pocketed it. Julie lifted her bag to throw over her shoulders but he reached out, insisting on taking it for her. She handed it over; it would be weightless on his back.

At that moment Alex and Reggie appeared, lingering in the doorway. Julie’s eyes immediately began to swell when she saw them.

“Um…Alex has to go,” Reggie pointed out quietly.

Julie threw herself at the drummer, pulling him into a tight embrace as tears fell from her eyes. Alex wrapped his arms around her protectively, his eyes lifting up to Luke, pleading for him to keep her safe.

 _I will,_ he promised quietly.

Ray looked away, seeming uncomfortable, like he was intruding.

The goodbye had already been drawn out painfully long enough for Luke’s taste; it was making the idea of leaving harder and harder. He was grateful when Alex simply looked between his two best friends and announced:

“I love you guys.”

And he disappeared.

Julie nearly fell over at the loss of his touch and Luke reached out, pulling her toward him.

“I guess we better get going,” he told her softly. “Alex can only stall so long.”

Suddenly, Julie was shaking her head, her eyes lit up with desperation, panic, _rage_.

“I don’t want to run!” She cried, trying to push him away as he grasped for her flailing arms. “I will _murder_ Caleb.”

“He’s already dead Julie,” Reggie sighed.

“Then I will _destroy_ him! Take me to his club, please! You can’t just make me hide!”

“We’re not risking you!” Luke insisted, resting his forehead against hers. “Please, Julie. If he comes after us that’s one thing, we’re already dead…he could be here any moment to take you, I can’t risk it.”

“ _I_ can’t risk it.” Her father spoke up quietly.

Luke stepped away, letting him step in to take his daughter in his arms.

“Mija, I can’t lose you. I’m really, really trying hard to understand what is going on here, but if there’s one thing I can understand it’s that this Caleb guy isn’t small potatoes. If there is any chance that he would…that he’d…I’ve already lost your mother. Carlos lost his mother. Please, we can’t risk losing you too. I don’t know how I would cope.”

His own eyes fell close as the two embraced, and he ached at the thought of his own parents, how broken they must have been to learn of his death. Hearing her father plead for her safety…it was too much.

“I love you, Dad,” she whispered.

“I love you, Julie.”

Luke noticed Reggie was looking away; it was a familiar look that Luke knew well, he was trying to pretend he was anywhere but here. And at that moment, anywhere but here was where Luke wanted to be too. He was desperate to get her somewhere safe, even if they might have to keep moving, he just wanted her to be any kind of safe.

“Julie, let’s go,” he whispered, reaching out for her.

“ _No_ , Luke, Reggie, _please_ -“

“I’ve got this, Julie,” Reggie promised, “I’ll protect them.”

A sudden creepy-crawly feeling rushed up Luke’s spine, and he could practically feel Caleb’s eyes on him, like he was watching him through a crystal ball. Planning his attack. He knew that Alex was likely right, and Caleb could likely only track down the ghosts he stamped. But he didn't want to risk it. They needed to leave.

 _Please let me protect her,_ he pleaded whoever in the universe might be listening.

He still couldn’t understand exactly what kind of magic he possessed or how it worked, but if it was true, if he possessed any kind of power, all he wanted to use it for was to shield her from Caleb.

The crawling feeling prickled at his neck, stinging, and he grabbed Julie’s hands on instinct.

“We need to go, _NOW_!”

_Please hide us. Hide her._

As he was pulled through the vortex of space in a flash, he only heard the echoes of Julie’s screams until they landed safely, making it feel like an eternity before they landed safely.

On concrete.

Julie was still screaming, her fists pounding wildly at his chest, pleading for him to take her back when she suddenly stopped, taking in her surroundings. Their faces lit up in a million lights; her eyes went wide as she spun around, her hand dropping from him as she did.

He had really only been half-sure that he could even teleport her anywhere.

His heart wasn’t set on any particular location, just somewhere where they could lay low long enough to figure this out, and he had just realized the best place for them to go was somewhere where they could hide in plain sight. Admittedly, he had thought they'd end up more like somewhere in downtown LA, considering they had not successfully been able to travel too far as ghosts yet...and he had never dared to bring a lifer along before.

But it only made sense to look up and find themselves in Times Square.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehehehe....tehehehe...muwhahaHAHAHAHA....
> 
> Imma just gonna leave this here and go to bed and hope everyone doesn't hate me in the morning :p
> 
> (it'll be a fun ride, promise!)
> 
> Thank you all so much! I'd love to know what you're thinking...comments absolutely make my day!


	5. Band on the Run

Chapter Five: Band on the Run

_The undertaker drew a heavy sigh_  
_Seeing no one else had come_  
_And a bell was ringing in the village square_  
_For the rabbits on the run._  
_Band on the run_  
_Band on the run_

-Paul McCartney & Wings

Julie wasn’t sure how long she stood, spinning in circles as she gaped at the lights of Times Square all around them. She wanted to be mad at Luke…she wanted to be pissed. But at the same time…she was in _New York City_. If you had ever told her that she would once be able to teleport to Times Square…

Not to mention, she didn’t even have any idea that ghosts could transport lifers. Judging by the look of shock on Luke’s face he was genuinely just as stunned as she was that he had pulled that off.

“I really didn’t know that I could teleport you,” he stated, reading her mind before she could round on him. “I wanted to take you as far away from Caleb as I could, but I swear, we’ve never been able to teleport more than like, a half hour away, and we’ve never taken a lifer. So…I guess this is as far as I can go.”

“The city that never sleeps.”

Sure enough, even in the middle of the night cars packed Times Square and tourists wandered around, taking in the lights just as they did. People travelled here from all sorts of time zones, she realized, considering they had just come from LA, no wonder they would be out in the middle of the night. She suddenly felt very small, just standing there, holding onto Luke with one hand and the other clutching her backpack. Not having the faintest idea of what they should do next, Julie did the only thing that made sense: she started to walk.

And almost instantly, she walked right into someone…and went straight through them.

The shock hit her like ice water being thrown over her. Spinning on her feet, Julie stared back at the tourists she just walked through, wondering if she had imagined it. Then another person passed through her, then another…

Her eyes fell on Luke again, who looked more in shock than ever. People were passing through him too.

“Wha-what did you do?!” She cried, grabbing onto his arms and pulling them toward the walls of the nearest store. “What did you do?!”

_I’m not…_

_I can’t be…_

_Did that teleportation just…_

_…kill me?_

“I don’t know! I don’t know, Julie I swear.”

Breathing hard, she raised a shaky hand to her neck to dare to check her pulse…and breathed out a long sigh of relief when she found it was still beating madly. Her eyes wandered back to him, incredulous, and she hated how terrified he looked. He truly had _no_ idea what was happening.

“I swear I just…I begged for your protection,” he explained. “It was all I wanted, when I sent us away.”

Julie looked around them, confirming that not a single person had noticed that two teenagers just appeared out of nowhere and one was having an absolute meltdown.

“You made me invisible!” She exclaimed. “Luke!”

“I really don’t know how I did it, Julie! It must be-“

She shook an accusing finger at him.

“I swear if you say _magic_!”

He looked hurt at her response, and she knew that wasn’t fair. While all of this was maddening to her, she knew that it at least magic made a _little_ sense. Julie had always felt a gravitational pull toward the boys, ever sense she played her CD and imagined herself being able to pull off playing in a band with _that_ good of a sound and _magically_ seemed to bring them back as ghosts. Or when she was pleading for them to join her during “Stand Tall”, begging for them to be okay and to just come back to her, and even though they had been in Caleb’s clutches they were able to find their way to her.

But that was really all she knew she could do.

Not like…actual spells or anything like that.

Luke though…Luke looked like he was having a ghost-life crisis, staring at his hands like he didn’t even recognize them anymore.

“Oh my god,” she breathed, “you’re actually magic.”

“Yeah…” They stared at each other in awe, half feeling like laughing at how absurd it was, half more confused and afraid than ever.

Suddenly Luke blinked and shook his head, as though bringing himself out of deep thought.

“You need to let your dad know you’re here,” Luke reminded her. “And please emphasize the fact that I did _not_ mean to teleport us to the other side of the country. Or make you invisible.”

Drawing in a deep breath, Julie nodded in agreement as she took out her phone (which thankfully she was still able to hold and use), trying to figure out what to say and how to say it. She couldn’t have felt any worse for how her dad found out about the phantoms, let alone for just disappearing like that. Her heart ached for him, and for Reggie, who they left behind in a flash to deal with the aftermath.

 _Made it safe,_ she texted simply, hoping that somehow that could possibly be enough to appease her father.

The reply came immediately.

_Where?_

Of course.

_…New York City._

_……_ was all her dad texted back.

She could feel Luke watching over her shoulder and glanced up at him, sympathetically before replying:

_He really didn’t mean to._

_That doesn’t make me feel any better,_ her dad replied.

“Tell him me neither,” Luke muttered.

“Yeah, I will not.”

Julie pocketed her phone and held out her hand as if to say get me away from here, and Luke nodded, understanding.

But when he took her hand, nothing happened.

He froze, frowned, and then started to panic.

“What?” She demanded.

“It’s not working!” He exclaimed, his voice rising with panic. “Teleporting has never not worked before!”

He let go of her hand and looked like he was trying to concentrate on just leaving himself, to see if it was her throwing it off, but he didn’t go anywhere.

“Are you telling me we’re stuck here?! Great. That’s just great.”

Throwing up her arms, she stormed away from him, just needing space to breathe before she actually had a nervous breakdown. 

“How could it not be working?!” He demanded as he rushed to follow her.

“Don’t ask me, I’m not the magic expert!”

Forget any hotel. No way she was going to be stuck in a room with him all day. She was too worried about her family, too worried about Reggie, too worried about Alex. She just kept thinking about his face, how awful and beat he looked and how furious she was that Caleb would dare try to use violence to scare him, even though they both knew the ghosts physically couldn’t hurt him he knew it would psychologically mess with him more than anything.

That’s where she should be. Figuring out how to fight Caleb and get their friend back. Not running away.

“Julie…Julie, please!” Luke sped up, walking in front of her, walking backwards as he pleaded with her. “I swore to your dad I would protect you, and when we fled, I must have triggered some kind of protection spell. I know it sounds insane, but it seems like that is exactly what happened! I know you want to fight Caleb, trust me, I do too- Alex is my best friend and it is killing me that he is trapped back there right now without his soul but please Julie…I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you.”

“And I would never forgive myself if anything happens to Alex.”

His face fell, and she knew that wasn’t fair.

“Look, I’m sorry,” she offered quietly. “I know this isn’t your fault, and I know you’re scared too. We’ll figure it out. Like we always do.”

She offered him an apologetic smile, but he still seemed a bit too shaken by everything. Gently she reached out, wrapping hand around his arm and squeezing lightly. It seemed to calm him so much, just these simple touches, and it pained her to realize how touch-starved her boys had been. They had each other of course, and they were definitely closer than any living guys she knew. But it was such a comfort them to be able to hold, touch, hug. When her hand touched their skin they lit up, even just momentarily.

“What does that feel like?” She asked quietly, curiously, “When I touch you?”

Luke looked so nervous to be asked that, and it was one of those beautiful moments when she was reminded that deep down, he was still just a seventeen-year-old boy.

“It feels warm,” he admitted. “It’s…nice.”

And god did he ever always know how to break her heart.

She couldn’t help it, she threw her arms around him, wanting nothing more than to be able to hold him tight and let that warmth ease his pain, if for only a moment.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered again as she held her arms around his neck. She could feel his weight against hers, and he was right…it was instant comfort. “I didn’t mean to be mad at you.”

“It’s okay, Jules.”

Her lips turned up in a small smile at the nickname, and as she slipped away, she felt a bit better about the situation than she did a moment ago. They could do this. If they could slay the Orpheum with practically zero prep, they could take Manhattan for the night.

She frowned though, as she took in how exhausted he looked. As strong as the boys looked the night before, Luke just seemed paler than usual and drained. He looked like he could barely stand anymore, now that she realized it.

“Luke…how do you feel, really?”

Letting out a sigh, he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck before confessing:

“Tired. Like…really, really tired. Like I just ran a marathon…and then got hit by a bus.” He offered her a little laugh at his joke, but she was too concerned to join him. He looked guilty for worrying her and promised: “But I’m okay, I can keep going.”

“No, you clearly need to rest.”

Now he just looked pissed at the idea of holding her back.

“I’m a _ghost_ ,” he pointed out for the umpteenth time, “it’s all psychological.”

 _Like Alex’s bruises?_ She wanted to point out, but spared her friend the reminder that their friend had clearly been in actual pain even though that shouldn’t technically be possible. 

“Yeah, but it seems like you’re starting to physically feel what is affecting you psychologically, even if it’s not actually real,” she explained. “If rest is what your brain thinks it needs then it’s what it’s going to need. Plus, we still don’t know how these powers work. You just teleported me and you from California to New York and did some kind protection spell to make me invisible. And you didn’t even mean to do any of that.”

“Yeah…” he agreed, sounding absolutely defeated, “it’s like that took everything out of me. Before it was just like we were ghost tired. Now…I’m not sure how I’m still standing, to be honest.”

She offered him a supportive smile as she threw an arm around his shoulders and began to slowly lead them away from Times Square. Julie knew exactly where she wanted to take them to, and she grinned to herself, knowing exactly how to get there from where they were. She and Flynn may have planned one or two…or a dozen…fake dream vacations to New York City in hopes they’d get to go some day.

And here she was in that exact city, invisible, with her cute male ghost friend, who had magical powers, instead.

Flynn was going to absolutely murder her before Caleb could ever dream of finding her.

Reggie had seen the guys teleport by now plenty of times. Teleporting wasn’t something in life that he thought he’d ever have to get used to, and he could only imagine if they went back and told their thirteen-year-old selves that one day, they’d be able to teleport…but by now it had become just as second nature as riding in cars used to be. Yet that night, as Alex left in a flash to go back to Caleb’s dungeon and Luke suddenly pulled Julie away, even as she fought him, he was left stunned. For all the chaos that was the past hour of their life the Molina house was suddenly silent, and Reggie had never felt so alone as he did being left there, to protect his friend’s very living family.

To protect Ray, who he had begun to look at as a father-figure in a weird way.

He as so embarrassed that this was how Ray had found out about him. He had imagined how they could do it, so many times. Maybe he’d write a song for him or help Julie out with a big heart to heart confession. It never occurred to him the possibility of just becoming visible to Ray, by himself.

Because of course, in death the magical power the universe would give him would be the ability to be seen by the only thing close to a father figure he had ever had in life. It was poetic.

But now that father-figure looked like he had forgotten Reggie was still with him all together as he ran his hands over his face, pale with shock, and slowly lowered himself to the edge of his daughter’s bed. Cautiously, Reggie joined him and they awkwardly sat in a long silence as Ray tried to process what just happened.

“So…” Reggie finally spoke up, unable to handle it anymore, “…ghosts…”

He said ‘ghosts’ at the same time Ray replied ‘magical powers?’ and they both stared at each other.

“Yeah, that’s a brand-new thing as of just now so I’m not the person to ask,” Reggie admitted, “but you can ask me all you want about being a ghost! I’m a pro at that by now.”

Naturally. The one thing he was good at…being dead.

Ray just stared back at him, like he was genuinely hopeful this might all have just been some weird dream. And truthfully, Reggie had thought that with any luck this was just another weird ghost nightmare.

For a split second his brain flashed back to the memory of breaking glass, a hand clutching tightly at his arm…

He shook his head, forcing himself to not go there. For all he knew, Caleb was plaguing him with bad memories of his father to distract him, he had to stay focused.

Beside him, Ray stared down at the phone in his hands, willing it to ring and for it to be Julie. Reggie wished he could give him any sort of hope, but he was too afraid to admit that the pull that usually came from Luke’s soul suddenly wasn’t there anymore. The same thing had happened with Alex earlier that day, which is why Reggie came running back to the studio. Something had just clearly felt very wrong.

He tried to think of something, anything helpful to say.

Then he realized he still needed to start from the beginning.

“I’m Reggie, by the way,” he announced quietly. Ray looked up at him, studying him without reply. Reggie swallowed nervously; it was his instinct to worry that Ray wouldn’t accept him, that this father-ghost connection he had felt was all a lie, but he couldn’t ignore how _safe_ it had always felt around him. There was no way this wasn’t a friendship meant to be. “I’m sorry if I weirded you out before! I really don’t watch you sleep or anything.”

_Now you just sound like a creep._

“What I mean is…” he hesitated; he had really banked on Julie’s dad jumping in and saying something, anything about the ghosts that had been haunting his home. But of course, all Ray would be thinking of right now was his daughter and if she was safe. He was shell-shocked. Reggie wasn’t even sure he was paying attention to him. “Your studio used to be our home, it still feels like home and, Mr. Molina, your house it just…feels safe to us. We haven’t had anywhere else to go. When we came back as ghosts and realized we could play music again, and that people could hear us and see us play, it meant everything to us. All we ever wanted to do was play music with Julie, we never meant to get her involved in any of this. But I understand if this is too much. If you don’t want me here-“

At last Ray held out a hand to stop him.

“You’re my link to my daughter right now,” Ray stated. “I’m keeping you around.”

He offered Reggie a small smile, but he felt a little guilty knowing that his usual link to his friends literally seemed to be broken. He decided to leave that part out.

“Luke is very protective of his friends,” Reggie promised, “and he really cares about Julie. He’ll make sure she’s safe.”

Julie’s dad nodded but didn’t look too convinced. His daughter has basically been kidnapped, from his point of view, Reggie realized. To him he just woke up, found out ghosts existed and had been living in his house, and now one has taken his daughter to protect her from an evil ghost.

If it were him, he’d frankly be freaking out a lot more than Ray was now.

“You’re taking the whole…ghosts are real thing a lot better than we thought you would,” Reggie commented.

“I know about ghosts, Reggie.”

He froze.

Oh.

Well.

 _That_ was the last scenario any of them imagined.

Then it hit him, how clearly Ray had spoken to Rose that night in the studio…could there be ghosts that maybe even they didn’t see?

“So…when you’re talking to your wife?”

Ray shook his head.

“No, she’s not…” he sighed again, running his hands over his face before getting to his feet. Reggie watched as he wondered around Julie’s room, smiling faintly at the pictures of her daughter and her friends…

 _Crap, we’re going to have to tell Flynn…_ he did not look forward to that.

“What I mean is, my wife, Julie’s mother…she had a _mild_ obsession with the afterlife when she was younger, when we first met,” Ray confessed. He ran a finger over a cross necklace that lay amongst Julie’s jewelry, and it pained Reggie to realize that likely belonged to her mother. The Molinas were just finally beginning to be able to process their grief…and now the phantoms had dragged them into this. “She was fascinated by the idea of spirits and ghosts. She was only 23 when we first met. Rose had already been friends with Trevor for a couple of years. They talked about ghosts all the time, like they were real. I even caught them trying to do a _séance_ once. They said they were just messing around but now I don’t know what to think. She acted like spirits were just always around us. That all stopped when they both had kids, it was like they never wanted to mention it again. I don’t understand this whole ghost or magical powers thing at all, but if Julie is able to connect with ghosts it just really makes me wonder if Rose really did know.”

But Reggie had stopped at the name “Rose”, the gears beginning to turn in his head. Rose and Trevor.

_“Here’s a t-shirt, sized beautiful.”_

_“I’m Rose.”_

Of course. If they had all died suddenly of food poisoning that poor, kind, waitress Bobby had been flirting with wouldn’t have left the one surviving band member alone. If they had both been there when his three friends had died…that kind of bond would last them a lifetime.

Rose was Julie’s mom…

This changed _everything_.

“Did you say ‘Rose’?” Reggie asked carefully, just to make sure he wasn’t going crazy. Because did it ever feel like he was going crazy today.

Ray nodded, curious.

And Reggie just…laughed.

There was no way the universe was _this_ poetic. His laugh sounded almost maniacal, and he was well aware that Carlos was (somehow) still asleep, but he didn’t care. Ray just stared at him, at a loss, but he didn’t care.

There was absolutely no way the universe was this clever.

Ray took a sudden step toward him and Reggie stopped on instinct, hating the rush of coldness that stung him and how his body tensed. But of course, Julie’s father, only caring and concerned, only held out a hand in defense.

“Look, my daughter was just teleported away by a ghost because apparently she and her ghost friends have magical powers that an evil ghost wants so I really want to know what is so funny about all of this.”

But even as he said it, it just sounded _hilarious_. 

Reggie let out a final laugh before explaining:

“Trevor Wilson was in our band. His name used to be Bobby.”

“Yes, Julie told me.”

“We met a girl named Rose the night we died. She worked at the Orpheum. Bobby stayed behind to flirt with her while we went to get the fateful hot dogs. That’s why he didn’t die. She was the last person I talked to when I was alive.”

For a long moment they just stared at each other, each wondering how that much of a coincidence was possible. Ray’s mouth fell open, then closed, then he swallowed nervously…

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know…”

Ray just stood there, stunned, but it was like suddenly, everything was making sense in Ray’s mind but he wasn’t sharing with the class. Without explanation Julie’s father stormed out of her room, hurrying down the hall. He grabbed a coat from a chair at the kitchen island and his keys from the bowl (where Reggie had left them for him to make sure he didn’t lose them, thank you very much).

“I want to talk to Trevor,” Ray announced, “none of this…none of this makes any sense.”

“Wait!” Reggie called after him; Ray turned around, a silent _‘What?!’_ plastered on his face, but he didn’t speak. He sighed, and reminded him: “Carlos.”

Ray stopped; _right_.

“He knows about us, by the way,” Reggie confessed. Julie’s dad looked crestfallen, and the bassist felt guiltier than ever that they had kept all this a secret from them for so long. “He just found out about us, he talked to Julie about it last night.”

But Ray didn’t hardly give himself a moment to stop and feel sorry for himself about it. He was very much in Protective Dad mode combined with Pissed Off Dad mode. It was a little intimidating, and while Reggie still had all the confidence in the world (though he had no idea where it was coming from) that he could help protect the Molinas, he did _not_ want to be Caleb if the ghost ever dared to face Julie’s dad.

“I don’t care if he knows,” Ray stated, “I don’t want him to be a part of this.”

That was how Ray found himself, a half hour later, at his sister-in-law’s apartment with a sleeping Carlos in his arms. He had shaken his son awake, claiming the power was out and it’d be a while before it was back on so he was going to stay with Victoria and Julie with Flynn. Carlos had fallen back asleep five minutes into the car ride without questions. It was a good enough lie to get them through the next twenty-four hours, and god help him if this lasted longer than that.

 _Ghosts_ was all he could think as he banged on her door at two in the morning.

Reggie stood behind him, stiff as a board, looking like he hoped more than anything like Victoria couldn’t see him. It was probably wise…the freak out that was coming for all of them if Victoria realized he was waking her up in the middle of the night over ghosts would not be pleasant.

When his sister-in-law opened the door, dressed in a pink cotton robe and slippers, no make-up, her hair pulled back in a quick ponytail, her eyes tired and confused, he found himself extraordinarily nervous. He knew it best to tell her as little as possible. He felt like he had finally gone crazy; he had felt himself reaching this breaking point all year, between finally saying goodbye to his dying wife, helping Julie through her grieving and depression, helping Carlos understand death, keeping Julie in her school program. Logically, Ray knew there was every possibility that he had, quite simply, lost it.

But if there was any chance any of this was real, that this threat of this Caleb guy was real, he could just sit on his hands and _wait_. Even if there was the slightest chance that Rose had somehow been connected to ghosts, if it could have anything to do with what Julie was going through now, he had to know. _Now._ And he didn’t want Carlos to be anywhere around the house or any of the ghosts until they figured this out; having one child in danger was already one too many.

“Ray?” She asked, her eyes widening with worry as she looked between him and the boy in his arms…and looked around to find no Julie. “Oh my god. What happened to Julie?”

He hesitated…how could he even begin? Ghosts? Magical powers? Evil ghosts that wanted his daughter’s soul? Teleporting? He didn’t even begin to understand himself, he was just powering through for Julie’s sake. _Why hadn’t she called yet?_

Realistically, Ray knew the best way to go about this was say as little as possible.

“Julie…Julie’s okay.”

Victoria pulled him into her apartment, looking around to see if anyone had noticed him banging on the door at 2am, but the complex was all quiet.

“I need you to watch Carlos,” he said as he placed his son on the sofa and draped a blanket over him.

“You can’t just show up here at two in the morning!”

“How much did Rose find out about ghosts?”

Victoria froze, gaping at him, arms crossed. He braced himself, thinking for half a second she might actually slap him for that.

“This has gone too far!” She hissed, leading him away from the sleeping boy. How Carlos was sleeping through this, he had no idea but he didn’t question it. He also didn’t question it when Reggie automatically stayed behind, looking over the younger boy as he slept. “You guys have got to get out of that house!”

“ _Please,_ Victoria.”

They stared at each other, long and hard, him begging her to trust him. He had no doubt Victoria knew _everything_ about Rose, even things he hadn’t learned during their 18 years of marriage. He knew Victoria was every bit as superstitious as Rose used to be. If Rose had found out anything about ghosts, Victoria would know.

“That was a Rose and Trevor thing,” Victoria shot, hands on her hip, almost looking defensive, “and I hadn’t heard either of them talk about that in almost twenty years. I told you Ray, there’s something about that house. I never liked that Rose accepted it from Trevor, it always had bad vibes.”

Ray tried very hard to not react…because now he knew why the house must have had bad vibes. It was the house Trevor lived in growing up, with the studio his band played in before they died, at seventeen.

 _Only a year older than Julie,_ he kept reminding himself.

Somewhere out there, three sets of parents were mourning the twenty-fifth anniversary year of their teenage sons’ deaths and here he was, running around LA with one of them at two in the morning trying to find out what he could about ghosts and magical powers.

“I’ll talk to him,” Ray agreed, without offering any further explanation.  
Please, look after Carlos. I told him the power was out and he would stay with you and Julie with Flynn.”

“Ray, where is Julie?”

He just stared at her, pleading for her to understand and not keep asking questions.

“We’ve got go,” he stated. He ignored her confusion at the use of ‘we’ and didn’t ask for permission as he tore out of her apartment and raced down the steps, back to his car.

Once he was inside the dark, quiet, vehicle, he took a split second to let his head hit the headrest and closed his eyes, just for a moment…

“So…I might have once put on a sheet and pretended to be a ghost in front of her once so that she would believe Carlos.”

He jumped at Reggie’s sudden appearance; _right, ghost_. He stared at him, wondering what he was even supposed to say to that. Then he noticed Reggie had strapped himself into the car with the seatbelt, and he couldn’t help but to smirk.

“I figured you would teleport,” Ray commented. “How does that work, anyway? How did Luke get away with Julie?”

Reggie only shrugged and leaned back as well.

“Magic?” He offered simply.

_Magic._

He really, really had to be dreaming.

For a moment he distracted himself by studying this ghost friend of Julie’s. The poor kid just looked so _young_ ; he might as well have been someone from Julie’s school. He was too young to be going through this, to have _died_ , and died with his friends. And to think after all that, how Trevor had betrayed them…that part was almost the least believable out of the whole story. Sure, Trevor was always a weird guy. He had tried out more religions than Ray knew existed, was already a recovering alcoholic by the time they had met in their early twenties (Rose had been serving as his sponsor at the time and Ray would too at one point) and survived two drug overdoses (that Ray knew about), and then after finally sobering up for good and straightening himself out had randomly decided to adopt a newborn while he was single and in his late twenties, just because he had the money and felt like he should be doing more with his life.

Oh, and he was a filthy rich Rockstar.

The man had _given_ him and Rose his parents’ old house as a wedding present (though now that he knew the house was haunted by the ghosts of three of his old bandmates it seemed a lot less sentimental).

Admittedly, Trevor was always more of Rose’s friend than Ray’s. But deep down, he had always rooted for the guy. It was always clear there was some unresolved trauma there, there had to be something that kept Rose so tethered to the guy. His wife wasn’t one to choose her friends lightly, even when she was young. But he would have never guessed something of _this_ magnitude. All of a sudden knowing that the man was there the night his three best friends died at the Orpheum, without him, only _seventeen_ , it made all of his tendencies a bit more understandable. Not right. But understandable.

Except…how could he steal their legacy like that?

_(Did Rose know about that? If she did how could she have kept that from me?)_

God, he felt terrible for these kids.

“You really don’t have to come with me,” Ray told the phantom. “I know it must be hard, seeing Trevor.”

The phantom grimaced, and Ray had a feeling this wouldn’t be the first time the boy had been back to his old friend’s house.

“I can’t let you go alone,” Reggie replied, sincerely. And Ray had to admit, he appreciated that. He had no idea what he was doing, he felt crazy for even going over in the middle of the night, but the idea of waiting hours until Trevor might be up while Julie was literally on the run wasn’t an option he wanted to consider. “Plus, you’ll need me to get you over the security fence. If Luke was able to take Julie, I can get you over a fence. I think.”

Reggie let out a laugh at his own uncertainty, echoing his weird fit of laughter from earlier. Ray had only personally known the teenager for a couple of hours now of course, but somehow the connection between them was already so strong. He was afraid they had gotten off on a terrible foot; he really did still think the boys were angels for coming to Julie at the perfect time and saving her from her depression, helping her find the light in life again.

He noticed how Reggie settled into the seat, resting his head against the window just like Julie would after a long day of school, his eyes fluttered closed. He just looked so… _exhausted_. How did ghosts get tired? Shaking his head, Ray decided to just add it to the long list of ghost questions he’d likely never get answers to and started up the car and before his sister-in-law could come running after him.

When Alex fled the Molina’s house he didn’t actually go immediately back to the Ghost Club. He hoped and prayed for his friends’ protection as he left him but if he could help it he was going to give himself just a moment before going back. Just a moment. Just to breathe.

Because funny enough, as he appeared before a moonlit, empty ocean, he truly felt like he _needed_ to breathe.

It wasn’t just psychological.

Alex collapsed on the sand, letting everything take over him.

Just for a moment.

Sobs escaped him as he drew his knees to himself, setting his eyes on the calm ocean before him. He focused on the gentle crash of the waves as he shook, breathing slow breaths through pursed lips. His finger dragged through the sand, and he was shocked he could feel the texture of it, its roughness and softness all at once. And he cried harder, because doesn’t it just figure that just as he was figuring out his _ghost sense_ that his soul was held captive?

What terrified was that he could swear he could feel his soul crumbling away. As soon as he left the Molina’s it was like the part of him attached to Reggie and Luke broke off. He couldn’t _feel_ them anymore.

He was completely alone.

And almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Caleb appeared beside him, lounging casually in the sand.

A shiver ran up his spine and his body stilled; he willed his sobbing to stop.

“Nice night, isn’t it?” Caleb mused. Alex refused to answer as he rested his chin on his arms, wrapped around his knees. “You didn’t really think you could just ignore the rules, did you?”

Alex shook his head.

“I wasn’t trying to,” he stated.

That, he wouldn’t pretend. He knew full well Caleb would come after him. He was banking on Caleb being distracted that he wasn’t coming back, to give Luke and Julie a head start.

“Is there _anything_ I can do to ensure their safety?” Alex asked, his voice shaking as the anxiety riddling him begged him not to make any other stupid moves.

 _No more deals,_ Luke had begged.

But if it meant they didn’t have to live in fear, be hunted down, sell themselves like he did, he absolutely would in a heartbeat. Caleb studied him, fascinated by his loyalty to his friends, even at the expense of his own soul.

“You four are a package deal,” Caleb stated, “bosses’ orders.”

Alex stared at him, confused by the sentiment; it was as though Caleb was actually trying to make excuses for himself. If Caleb wasn’t in charge of all of this…who was the boss?

_And please tell me I don’t have to meet them._

“But I’m sure we can make some kind of…temporary agreement.” Alex looked up, hopeful as Caleb continued: “Considering none of your friends are here to join you I’m assuming they have taken the _run for your lives_ approach?”

The drummer stiffened; like he would have ever actually tried to convince his friends to join him with Caleb…and he had a feeling Caleb knew that exactly.

“I can feel that Ms. Molina and Luke think they’re hiding from me, it’s adorable,” Caleb sneered. Alex bit back a sigh of relief, thankful that at least for the moment he could be relieved that that must mean they were safe, for now. He did wonder though about Reggie…were Luke and Julie the priority since he had threatened to go after Julie first? Was Reggie already caught somewhere? “But I have eyes everywhere. It’s only a matter of time. I suppose, as you handed yourself over so willingly, I could give them a little…head start.”

“The catch?” He asked weakly.

Caleb grinned, and he was already regretting his choices. Now that he knew there was a way he could keep his friends safe for at least some time, there was no way he could turn down any deal.

“We get to do a little show and tell,” Caleb informed him. “I’m curious what the full extent of your powers are, without your friends by your side.”

That…didn’t seem too terrible. After all, he had some mild curiosity about what this whole magical power thing was about, and he had assumed that if Caleb wanted said power then he would try to make him demonstrate what he could do anyway.

And if he was _that_ powerful…maybe he would be able to figure out how to stop him.

“What about Reggie?” Alex questioned.

The ghost rolled his eyes, and Alex really wanted to demand, on Reggie’s behalf, why he wasn’t as much of a threat, but he stayed silent.

“Yes, that extends to Reginald as well,” Caleb replied. “His powers have hardly begun to show, I can feel it. A little stress and adrenaline couldn’t hurt to speed things up.”

Alex decided he really didn’t want to know what things needed to be sped up for, or why Caleb even cared what exact powers they had, but if it gave his friends any kind of head start, he had to help them out.

“And the Molinas?” He asked quickly, not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to protect them as well.

“Now you’re just getting greedy,” Caleb warned, “you really should have thought about making demands _before_ giving me your soul.”

The comment left Alex feeling hot and frustrated, hating himself for revealing what their one weakness as a group would have been. He wasn’t even sure if a target would have been put on Ray and Carlos’ back if he hadn’t brought up their names. Her brother was just so young, he could practically hear Julie begging him to find any way to protect him.

“Her brother is only like, nine years old,” Alex pleaded. “Please, at least give me a way to ensure his protection.”

His chest tightened as Caleb simply raised an eyebrow, almost as though he was getting impressed with his demands. He was getting somewhere.

“You young ghosts are always so willing to give up everything for lifers you hardly know.”

 _I have nothing else left to lose,_ he thought to himself, unwilling to risk breaking his poker face.

At last, Caleb reached out a hand, and Alex didn’t hesitate to swing out his own hand, shaking on it. An almost soft energy buzzed through his veins as their hands joined, and a new blue stamp etched itself into the wrist opposite of the black stamp.

“Good choice.” The phantom’s face hardened as he pulled Alex to stand by him, facing him toward the ocean.

He thought of the days when he and his friends would take a break from busking and just lounge in the sand, or that time when Luke tried to teach him to surf, or Reggie’s sixteenth birthday, when they built a bonfire on the beach and camped out. All those memories had been from just the past couple of years in his ghost timeline, but for the first time they actually felt like _decades_ ago. The shreds of his soul that clung to his spirit begged him to not let go of that innocence.

“Take a nice long look at the ocean, Alex Mercer,” Caleb warned darkly. “You won’t be seeing it again for a long time.”

A hand was placed on the back of his head and everything went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't resist protective!Ray&Reggie team up and giving them their own little adventure...don't worry, he has more cool powers coming in down the pipeline ;) 
> 
> You guys I'm so blown away at the reception to this fic so far!! I'm so excited that you guys are on board and excited about the story! I was actually so nervous to update, this story has more going on in it than any story I have written in a very long time & I've been so anxious about getting it right! But it's all been a ton of fun to write. Fanfic has taken back over my life for the first time in a longggg time. And as it turns out I have a lot of angsty feelings left over from last year that are more than happy to come out in writing. Go figure. Thank you so much for your comments and kudos, they for real make my day and help power writers through! I love hearing what you guys think!


	6. Firestarter

Alex woke up to a blinding light.

His eyes dashed around as the room he was in came into focus, but the best he could make out was that he was laying under stage lights.

The panic hit him instantly as he realized he was back in the Hollywood Ghost Club. Alone. He tried to move but it was like he was bound to the floor, though he could at least see that nothing was binding him. It was like he was locked in, on the same stage they had been forced to play on less than two days ago, except the stage was empty of any equipment or band. The whole ballroom was vacant. The club looked abandoned. For all he knew it could have been hours or even days since he was allowed to go to the studio, since the beach when everything went black. And that was just in normal time, let alone Ghost Club time…

Just as soon as the realization hit him, Caleb appeared, towering over him.

“Oh good, you’re finally awake.”

Alex just blinked up at him, trying to catch up.

“Where… “ he swallowed hard, surprised to find his throat so dry, like it used to be in the mornings…as a _living_ person. “Where is everyone?”

Caleb raised an eyebrow at him, amused.

“You know, you ask all the wrong questions.”

_I really don’t feel it’s unreasonable to know if I’m alone in a creepy, abandoned ghost club with an evil ghost or not…_

But he refused to be that vulnerable, so he didn’t respond. With a dramatic sigh, Caleb explained:

“Remember when I told you it wasn’t just LA; we were all over the world? That’s where everyone else is. I will be joining them soon enough. You will be staying here.”

He wasn’t sure which sounded more terrifying…Caleb dragging him all over the world with the rest of his minions or being held captive, alone, in said creepy, abandoned, club.

“And Willie?”

“Oh, he’s still around here somewhere…”

Anger rushed through him even as he realized how stupid he had been. Again. He had assumed the deal would free Willie from the Ghost Club…what if it only freed his soul? And he was still trapped here, with him? He struggled against the invisible bonds, but Caleb only smirked.

“Don’t worry, his soul is saved, as agreed upon,” Caleb stated, “but until all of this is complete, he’s as much of a hostage in this as you are.”

He really did _not_ like the use of the word ‘hostage’.

He also was seriously freaking out over how empty his body felt, like all the energy that had been rattling around the day before, ready to help him face Caleb, had been zapped out of him. He almost felt like if Caleb just wanted to leave him there, to try to sleep the day away on the stage, he would be fine with that.

But he really, really did not like the idea of Willie being locked away in here somewhere, his soul free, but his body trapped until they gave themselves up to Caleb…

“I think that’s enough of a rest,” Caleb announced suddenly. With a snap of his fingers Alex found himself being magically pulled to his feet. Taking an abrupt step toward him, Caleb took one of his hands, examining it, than the other; it was like his body was still too locked in place to even jerk away. “What all have you discovered you can do?”

_Be honest_ , a voice in his head warned.

He shuddered at the reminder that, he didn’t exactly own his soul anymore. As much as Caleb could control his body movements, he was sure if he didn’t comply there was away he could not only possess his body but his mind.

“Just the teleportation,” he replied, trying to keep as calm and steady as he could, “and being able to summon our instruments. Until today…until yesterday, that was it.”

Caleb was studying his face carefully, almost like a doctor trying to get the full truth out of a patient.

“And what happened yesterday?”

Alex shrugged, acting like it was no big deal.

“I was able to start a windstorm on the beach.”

“And this was after you broke my curse?”

He nodded.

“And how exactly did you get rid of the stamp?” Caleb asked; Alex was actually surprised he would admit that he didn’t know how they did it.

“We don’t know,” he replied, sincerely, “we were flickering, and we couldn’t crossover…one minute Julie was begging us to go back to you so that we wouldn’t be destroyed and the next she was able to touch us. As soon as we became tangible to her it was like the curse was broken.”

Caleb’s lips turned up in a wicked smile, as though that was exactly what he wanted to hear. Without explanation, he turned away, and it was like Alex could physically _breathe_ as soon as there was some distance between them.

“There’s not really such things as magical hugs…right?” Alex asked.

The ghost _laughed_ , so suddenly, so manically that it sent shivers down his spine.

“Magic is like energy, it can’t be created or destroyed,” Caleb explained dramatically, as though he were presenting this to a class. His eyes glowed suddenly, and Alex could have sworn they flashed red for a moment, and he regretted ever saying anything. “It can however, be _given_ and taken.”

His eyes widened as he realized what Caleb was getting at. 

_“Maybe she’s a witch!”_

_“There are no such things as witches.”_

_“Are you sure? I used to think ghosts weren’t real.”_

_“That’s fair.”_

Surely Reggie wasn’t…actually right?

“Julie doesn’t have magic,” he attempted.

But even as he said it, he knew it made just as much since as _them_ having magic. Magic that Julie, what _loaned_ them to break Caleb’s curse?

“She brought you back, yes?” Caleb pointed out. “And she can make you visible to lifers which, only _I_ should be able to do.”

“And how exactly does that work?” Alex demanded, cautiously taking a step toward him to show he couldn’t be so easily shaken.

He was sure he shouldn’t spill the detail that Reggie could suddenly make _himself_ visible to lifers, but maybe he could figure out some detail on that while he was here. After all, the more Caleb was trying to get out of him, the more Alex was getting the impression that the ghost was, quite literally, flying by the seat of his pants.

“Because it was the power _given_ to me.”

…or maybe not.

At that moment Caleb’s eyes flashed, first from the familiar purple hue of the original stamp to a fiery red and any doubt that the man wasn’t the devil himself were defeated. When his eyes didn’t change back it was like Alex’s body finally caught up to the fight or flight game his mind was playing, and the adrenaline rush seemed to break whatever spell he had been put under. He stumbled back, which seemed to surprised Caleb and he took advantage of the split-second head start to run.

_Get out get out get out!_

He tried to teleport, closing his eyes over and over again, hoping he’d magically appear somewhere else.

But he couldn’t go anywhere.

All of a sudden Caleb flew at him, and he had very little doubt the ghost himself wasn’t _actually being possessed by the devil_.

So Alex did the only thing he could think of to do.

He threw out his hands, just like he had done before when he was able to fight off Caleb before (for that one split second), trying to will together all of the energy left inside him, hoping _something_ would come out.

A violent heat rushed through him, it was like lava flowing through his blood vessels, straight to his fingertips, building and building until…

…actual flames burst out of him, shooting forward and igniting a ring of fire around Caleb, successfully separating them.

All at once the hot feeling was zapped out of him, and Alex fell back on the floor in shock, scrambling away.

_Did I just…?_

The heat from the flames flickered toward him, reminding him of the sudden very real threat of not only Caleb but a fire that was quickly spreading backwards across the stage. He thought for a moment that Caleb faltered but all it took was a simple wave of the ghost’s hand to extinguish the fire all together. Smoke swept over the drummer, staining his face and itching at his lungs until he was coughing because _of course_ if they could eat and drink and be visible to lifers in this room they could be affected by magical smoke. He tried to peel himself off the floor but his body felt like lead, like there was no hope of doing anything physical any time soon. It was too easy for Caleb to shoot his hand forward, pinning him to the floor until the ghost was towering over him once again.

Caleb’s eyes were back to normal.

He was positively beaming, half impressed, half possessed with greed.

“Is that all that you have?” He demanded in a low, daring, voice.

That awful, horrible grin was the last thing Alex saw as his vision faded.

Some show and tell, was his last thought as he blacked out, rather from the smoke, the force of his own magic or Caleb, he would never know.

When he came to again, Alex felt just done.

He was really, actually, done this time.

His head felt like it was on fire, his whole body ached, he felt like he was a weird combination of hungover and _I just got hit by a bus_.

Quite frankly, he was a bit afraid to open his eyes and see what Caleb had in store for him now. Somehow, he thought that when he sold his soul over to Caleb the result might be…less pain, less feeling, less _being_. He wasn’t picturing being treated like a magical punching bag (and physically feeling every ounce of that pain).

“Alex?”

His body flinched on instinct at the new voice, which sounded familiar, but he was too exhausted to put a name to it.

_Please no more,_ was all he could think, but he had no energy to speak.

“Hey, Hotdog,” the voice called softly.

_Willie._

Carefully, certain his battered mind must be playing tricks on him, Alex opened his eye and instantly felt relief when a familiar smiling face greeted him.

“There he is,” Willie teased as his eyes fluttered opened fully.

They were in a dark room, again, which didn’t exactly ease his paranoia , but this one at least seemed…dimmer. Dim enough to clearly see the outline of the skateboarding ghost hovering above him. He also could look around and see that Caleb was nowhere to be found. It was eerily quiet.

“Willie?” He asked hoarsely, raising a weak hand to the phantom’s face.

His chest tightened when he confirmed his friend was, in fact, actually there and at least looked okay.

“Yeah,” Willie confirmed, taking his hand to help him sit up. “It’s me.”

A wave of dizziness rushed over him as he was pulled up right; he was really, really over how alive the Ghost Club made ghosts feel. Willie was still smiling at him as he gently brushed a finger over his bruised, smoke-damaged face, looking both amazed that he was still standing and sympathetic.

“You’re okay?” Alex stated, half asking, half still in disbelief that the ghost was _actually here_.

“All things considered, yeah,” Willie said, letting out a half-hearted chuckle. He raised his hand again, brushing away some of the smoke off his cheek. “What did you do, try to burn the place down?”

Alex stared at him, wondering how, after everything, Willie was even able to attempt to sound so amused right now. Maybe it was just because anxiety and assuming the worse was his default state, maybe it was because an evil ghost who was quite possibly possessed by the _actual devil_ owned his soul, but at the moment it felt like nothing could make him feel any better.

“Yeah, I did, actually,” he confessed, he forced a small smile when Willie raised an eyebrow at him, “let me explain. Not only do I have normal ghost powers, I, apparently, am _magic_.”

“It doesn’t look like you’re very good at it.”

The phantom snorted at his own joke, and Alex couldn’t help but to laugh too. Okay, so Willie was making him feel a _little_ better.

“You’re really okay?” Alex asked, his eyes roaming over Willie’s smiling face, which was brighter and stronger looking than ever. A pang of sadness hit him as he remembered how it felt having Caleb’s curse lifted off of him, how stronger and better he felt…for what felt like one pitiful, entire, hour before everything went so, so wrong.

“Yeah,” Willie promised, all serious now. “No thanks to you, of course. I would have never asked you to do that for me, Alex.”

Their eyes met and the drummer swallowed nervously. Willie clearly was wondering _what the hell_ was he thinking, and for a fleeting second, he was horrified that maybe he had miscalculated the kind of feelings they had for each other. Not that that was the only reason he had done the deal, obviously. It didn’t matter who Caleb had; he didn’t have it in him to just watch a person’s soul be tortured like that.

But still…

“But…thank you,” Willie breathed. “It was a really, really stupid thing to do. But…thank you.”

Alex shook his head.

“I couldn’t leave you there like that,” he explained, his voice still sounding so weak. Tears prickled at his eyes and he hated how weak and hopeless felt. To supposedly be so _magic_ he felt completely helpless.

“It’s okay,” Willie whispered, and there was his hand on his shoulder, and _god_ could he just melt under his touch.

He just didn’t understand how he could still feel these things when he apparently didn’t even own his soul. He had _so many_ questions about how this whole losing your soul thing worked. But right now, he didn’t have the energy to ask. For now, it was enough just to allow himself to be held and breathe…

…or whatever, because of course even in the Ghost Club, ghosts didn’t actually breathe.

“You know, you could have told me you were actual magic,” Willie teased after a few quiet moments. “Or is that why you acted so helpless at all the ghost stuff, because you didn’t want me to feel bad that you had actual powers?”

Alex rolled his eyes, trying to not consider that it felt like a lifetime ago that he and Willie had hung out at that museum and he could barely even lift that bench. And here he was today, shooting fire out of his hands?

The afterlife was _weird_.

“I honestly had no idea,” he promised, searching in the dark to meet Willie’s eyes. How they just held so much hope and amazement, even in the situation they were in, Alex couldn’t understand. “I don’t understand. Out of all the ghosts…why us? _How_ us? We’re not anything special, we’re just some kids who were dumb enough to eat hotdogs with condiments some guy was selling out of his car.”

He felt Willie’s arm snake around his back, pulling him close. He could practically feel goosebumps dancing on his arms at the touch, and Alex dared to move closer, lowering his head to rest on the phantom’s shoulder. Gentle fingers stroke through his hair and honestly if Willie never bothered to answer and chose to just hold him like that instead, it would be perfectly fine with him.

But of course the skater, ever so wise, offered his wisdom:

“I’ve heard about ghosts coming back some time after their death, but you guys came back _twenty-five years_ later. If all ghosts have a little bit of this power, that power was building within you guys for a quarter of a century. You guys lived together, you died together, you came back together. It actually makes a lot of sense, when you think about it.”

Alex stared ahead into the darkness, wondering if something was wrong with him because none of this made even the smallest amount of sense to him. They couldn’t have been any more ordinary of teenagers, in fact of anything they were just _flawed_. Families that didn’t want them, relationships that had to be kept secret, talent that got stolen from them.

_Why_ us?

And to think, all the years he had spent being lectured about heaven and hell…

He really, really couldn’t help but to laugh as the irony hit him.

“What?” Willie insisted, looking both a little relieved and freaked out that he was somewhat less tense.

“Nothing,” Alex shrugged. “I’m just wondering what my super strict religious father who told me I was going to hell for being gay would think about me being held captive in death by an evil ghost after selling my soul for another guy.”

Willie’s eyes twinkled as he smirked, obviously noting how Alex quickly stumbled over ‘another guy’.

“I would hope he’d be more fascinated with the _magical powers_ part.”

They both broke out into laughter, and Alex was wondering if Caleb really had any idea what he was doing when he trapped them in there together.

“You know this has nothing to do with any of that, right?” Willie asked him quietly.

Alex nodded; there wasn’t a lot that wasn’t his fault by this point, but he still had enough faith in the universe to believe his sexuality wouldn’t actually be the cause of all this. But he couldn’t think too much about it before his anxiety would try to convince him otherwise. There was some hope, though, that maybe Willie knew enough about the Ghost Club to give him some insight. Caleb’s _you ask all the wrong questions_ echoed in his head, and he smirked. Maybe in a way the ghost had a point. If he had asked just any questions about who Caleb was or how the Ghost Club worked to begin with, maybe he might have seen any of the red flags warning him about what was coming for them.

“So, I’ve been told that I ask all the wrong questions,” he spoke up. “Maybe we should start from the beginning. What the hell is the Hollywood Ghost Club, how does it work, who is Caleb and how is he in charge of everything, why does time work different here, how exactly does he even physically own our souls, what does it feel like to have your soul owned, are there any other ghosts out there who are actual magic, how has all of this just been allowed to go on-?”

Once he started, the questions just kept falling out of him until he realized Willie was laughing and grabbing for his hands, which were flailing in the air as he rambled on.

“Woah, woah woah, Alex, _stop_.”

Stop? How could he possibly stop asking questions at this point? He was far past the point of no return, and all because he was only thinking with his heart and soul and not his head. But as he abruptly stopped, forcing himself to let out a few calming breaths, he did see how worked up and even more anxious he was getting the more he realized how much he didn’t know. 

“I’ve been there, okay?” Willie pointed out. “I died alone, I didn’t have anyone when I came back as a ghost. I had no idea what was going on. Caleb latched onto that vulnerability real quick, and I didn’t have a clue what I had gotten myself into. I was just happy to meet other ghosts and have someone looking out for me.”

Truth be told, he had always tried to avoid thinking about how Willie got involved with the Ghost Club in the first place and exactly what he was doing there with Caleb. While added to the list of things he didn’t know was what year Willie died, he had still only around Alex’s age when he did. He couldn’t even begin to imagine being the only one of his friends who had died and going through this alone. If Caleb had gotten to him this fast, with his two best friends by his side, he couldn’t even imagine how fast he would have gotten to him in that scenario. Even worse, he was pretty sure Willie thought he had been in a good place at the Ghost Club, until now.

“Have you ever heard of the term Stockholm syndrome?” Alex teased.

The skater let out a hollow laugh before continuing:

“As for what this place, this physical place, is like a connection point between life and death.”

“So physically…we’re sort of half alive in here?”

“Sort of. The point of the Ghost Club, or at least as I’ve known it, is to allow lifers a taste of the afterlife and ghosts a taste of being alive again.”

While Alex could easily understand now how that would appeal to ghosts and how easy it must be for young, lonely, ghosts to get sucked into this, he couldn’t fathom how this appealed to lifers. Granted, he was young when he died and as a teenager, he tried very hard to not think about the great big gig in the sky too much because if he did it was just terrifying and overwhelming. But he didn’t exactly think knowing all this was in store for him would have made him feel even better. In fact, he was pretty sure if he had known about _this_ afterlife, he would have just locked himself in his room forever.

“Why would lifers ever want that?”

Willie shrugged.

“Sometimes they think that they might find someone they lost here. It doesn’t happen as often as Caleb makes people think…but the times it does, I dunno, it makes it seem worth it.”

The ghost fell silent, and Alex couldn’t help but to wonder if maybe that was part of why Willie had joined the Club. Like Alex himself, the phantom never talked about his family life, and he knew it was likely for good reason. But that didn’t mean there couldn’t have been others he would try to find on the other side. The more he talked the more he seemed to feel guiltier and guiltier. Deep down, Alex wanted to be mad at him for getting him mixed up in all of this…but if they were destined to have this much power, he imagined Caleb would have found them one way or another.

“And I don’t know how exactly Caleb got involved in this to begin with, or if anyone has ever tried to stop him…but he must be able to take in ghosts’ power when he takes their souls. I don’t know if maybe all that power is what makes this place works, or if it’s just for Caleb or what.”

Then suddenly, it hit Alex…

“And when lifers sign on, they’re signing away any power they may have as ghosts. God that’s morbid.”

Beside him Willie let out a long sigh, like he was wrestling with another truth. He stared at the long moment before finally admitted:

“I was a recruiter, for Caleb.” Alex’s eyes went wide; his chest felt like it was cracking into pieces as the realization of what that must mean sunk in. All of this was a trap then. This whole time. “That became part of the deal after I signed myself over to him, but I swear, Alex, when you and I met that’s not what I was doing. I really thought I could help you out, and I just…I wanted to get to know you. But I didn’t intentionally sign you over, you have to know that. You asked me what it feels like to have your soul owned and…it’s terrifying. It’s like you know what you want and who you want to trust and love and let in but _he_ gets the final say.”

A shiver went up his spine at the use of the _L_ word, and he had to force his mind to not go on overdrive wondering… _is he talking about me_? At the same time the pit in his stomach grew deeper, and any fleeting hope that maybe things could turn out okay was quickly diminishing.

Willie’s eyes were wet with tears as he looked up at him, plagued with guilt.

“Like I said I would have _never_ asked you to do that for me.”

Taking a leap of faith, Alex raised a gentle hand, caressing the other’s cheek. And god did he ever want to kiss him at that moment, while he still felt like he had even an ounce of his soul left, while Caleb still hadn’t figured him out completely, he wanted to kiss him right then and there. He wanted to show him how much he truly did care, that he really did think Willie was worth fighting for. But he was so afraid if he took that step, if he was bold enough to go that far and then they couldn’t ever be together…he wasn’t sure he could come back from that.

Suddenly his hand felt like it was burning, and Alex pulled away, grimacing when the black stamp on his wrist glowed. Willie’s eyes went wide with fear.

“He gave you the black stamp?” He asked, voice trembling.

“Yeah,” Alex breathed. “What does it mean?”

His whole hand felt like it was absolutely simmering, and he had a horrible sinking feeling that maybe Caleb already had more of a hold of him than he realized.

“It means…that’s just _it_. You’re his. For other ghosts, they can still figure out their unfinished business and cross over, save themselves. You’re completely signed over to him.”

“Oh. Well. That’s just…that’s just great…”

Dizziness swam over him as anxiety pounded at him so hard that he thought he might actually pass out. So there was actually no way out of this. It was like he had known he was in a bad situation, but somehow there still felt like there was some kind of hope out there. But this was just it…this was his eternity now.

Forget finding the guys finding a way to fight Caleb. There _was_ no fighting. There was no way he could let them near Caleb if this could ever be a possibility.

His fingers rubbed absent-mindedly at the other hand, where he knew the blue stamp was too, but it didn’t glow. Suddenly he wasn’t even sure if he had actually made a real deal with Caleb, to protect anyone.

“What is it?” Willie asked quietly.

“He gave me a blue stamp too,” Alex confessed, opening his eyes and gazing at his other hand.

“Oh, well that one’s for a protection deal. The purple one you had before, that’s for an outstanding offer. He let you make a deal to protect someone?”

He nodded.

“Yeah, Julie’s brother. And he claimed he’d give the guys and Julie a head start before going after him.”

Willie bit his lip, looking like the full-fledged severity of how bad his Stockholm syndrome with Caleb had been.

“I really don’t think he’d intentionally hurt a lifer, let alone a kid…he recruits lifers personally, but it’s usually rich people. He doesn’t just hunt people down for sport.”

And Alex almost wanted to laugh because, at this point, who knew what Caleb did?

“Any idea how long we’ve been in here?” He asked, ready to change the subject.

“You just sort of…appeared a while ago. I have no idea how long I’ve been in here. My soul is free, but I guess Caleb has figured out as long as he keeps me around, he has something to use against you. He won’t let me go until he gets whatever he wants out of you guys. He has the place totally locked down. Even ghosts can’t even see this place while he’s gone.”

“So even if the guys tried to come here, they couldn’t?” He asked hopefully; while they had set their game plan, he wouldn’t put it past the guys to do the exact same thing he had done for Willie and come straight here after him.

“I don’t think so, not unless he wants him to. Usually, even ghosts have to have an open invitation to come here. Usually Caleb _goes to_ someone, if he really wants them. He wouldn’t want them just trying to figure their way around here.”

The relief melted away quickly as he realized Caleb meant it when he used the phrase _hunt them down_. A quiet moment passed as Alex let it sink in that he was stuck here, possibly for forever. His friends were out god knew where, running for their lives. He couldn’t find a single leftover ounce of hope in any of this.

Except for when Willie’s hand reached up, brushing away the ash staining his face.

While he would have given anything for Willie’s safety, not being alone was at least a _minor_ plus.

“Caleb really did a number on you, huh?” Willie asked; Alex nodded. Admittedly, he had been in a few fights in school, had been hit by his own father, but it all felt nothing compared to the pain rattling him now. It was almost beyond physical; his _mind_ was just shattered. “To be honest the most I know about ghost powers is all that I’ve already shown you. I’ve never understood how Caleb’s powers work. But I’m guessing magic is like most things, and you have to work your way up with it. Whatever you tried out there, it seriously freaked him out, I could tell. I’ve never seen him that threatened. I can’t tell you why this is happening or how…but I can help you figure it out. I think you just need to learn to concentrate your magical energy, like we did with normal ghost powers but on a much bigger scale. If you can beat Caleb, that has to stop the curse, right?”

“Caleb wants our power,” he told him, “and he acted like if he gets all of us here, if he takes our souls, he can take _all_ of it. He said he’d hunt them down…one by one…even Julie. I somehow don’t think that he’s just gone to do a show in Paris. The only thing is, I don’t think he knows exactly what we’re capable of yet. I mean even _we_ don’t. He talked like he had to extract that power from us. I just don’t see how we’re supposed to be able to fight him when we don’t even know what we can do.”

Willie didn’t respond, Alex knew there was only so much pep-talk he could give before giving into just how much this situation sucked. Closing his eyes, he willed himself to relax, trying to make himself remember that part of this whole power thing seemed to involve actual _rest_. He wasn’t exactly sure how adrenaline worked for ghosts, but he had been in fight or flight mode since this all started. He was basically fighting for his afterlife against Caleb and trying use magic for the first time at the same time. No wonder his powers were so out of control. Now his body was practically begging him to slow down, while he had the chance to.

“We’ll figure it out,” Willie murmured, his lips right against his ear. “Just close off your mind, give that brain of yours a break.”

Arms wrapped tighter around his shoulder, Alex scooted closer, and though there was all kinds of excitement rushing through him at being this close, he did finally feel safe enough to let his guard down for awhile.

“You know, the last time I was in a dark room it was for twenty-five years with two other people and I didn’t get a single hug the whole time,” he commented, with a faint, tired, smile. “I’m still just a _bit_ bitter about it.”

The other ghost laughed, pulling him closer. He decided the sound of Willie’s laughter was among his favorite of sounds.

“You’re not going to have to worry about that this time around, Hotdog,” he promised, holding him closer, “I’ve got you."

The faint smile lingered on Alex’s lips as he relaxed against him, giving into the rest his body was craving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be the next chapter but I figured ah hell, it's Valentine's Day, many of us are stuck at home cause pandemic or snowed/iced, why the heck not go ahead and give you guys reassurance that Willie is ok and bring them back together! And Alex and all his questions is totally me any time I talk about this show, just all questions. Thank you so much for reading and kudos! I adore your comments, they totally make my day, and I love hearing your feedback and what you're thinking about the story so far. 
> 
> ...and yes, I am aware everyone else's Willex reunion is all romantic and fluffy and adorable, and this is what I have to offer...but trust me, I love these two ;) what did you think??? :)


	7. All These Things I've Done

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Warning: child abuse, implied/referenced drug abuse

_“You were out all night!”_

_“Yeah I was out all I night, they needed someone for the night shift and I thought if I worked a double maybe we’d have money to send to the electric company this week!”_

_Reggie’s eyes flashed open as the sound of the familiar raised voices of his parents’ arguing echoed through the thin walls of their house. Groaning, he rolled over, noting that it was still pitch black in his room and, sure enough, the alarm only read 5:30am. He tried to put a pillow over his head and lure himself back to sleep, but his father’s voice roared out:_

_“Why wouldn’t you just call? Why are you always so secretive?”_

_The bassist froze, his breath caught in his throat as he realized…_

_His mom did call last night. Reggie had answered the phone after making himself a lovely dinner of scrambled eggs and toast, and she told him she would be working a double (again). His father hadn’t gotten home until well after eleven, and Reggie had sulked back to his room and practiced his bass until his fingers felt numb. And then fell asleep._

_Then, because he didn’t even think to leave a note, his father spent the rest of the night thinking his mother was out cheating on him._

_“I’m sorry that I was so busy working over sixteen hours yesterday that I forgot to call! You should have just thought to call the store!”_

_Letting out a sigh, Reggie kicked the covers off and ran his hands over his face. There was no way he could let his mom get yelled at for this. She had taken so much shit from his father already this week…_

_Quietly, he pushed his bedroom door open and dared to creep down the hall to the dimly lit kitchen. He could smell the whiskey from the kitchen doorway, and his body tensed at the sight of his father. His mother’s face melted when she saw him in the doorway. He offered her a small smile, feeling terrible seeing that she was still in her work uniform. Her hair was a mess, her makeup had been sweated off from hours spent working._

_“Hey, Reggie,” she greeted with a tired smile. “I’m so sorry, honey, did we wake you up?”_

_“No, I was up,” he lied as they shared a quick hug. Naturally, his father didn’t even acknowledge his presence. Reggie turned to him anyway, but his eyes purposefully avoided meeting his glare. “I just wanted to say that she did call last night and said she was working late. I forgot to leave a note. I’m sorry.”_

_The sour smell of alcohol was ripe on his breath as his father demanded:_

_“How were you too lazy to leave a note?! I was up all night-“_

_“She’s not cheating on you,” Reggie sneered under his breath. “She has more right to be worried about_ you _.”_

_Reggie regretted saying it even before the hand gripped tighter around his arm and he was shoved against the sink._

_“What was that?” His father spat; Reggie stayed perfectly still. “Go on, what is it that you have to say?”_

_Maybe it was the sleep deprivation talking, but suddenly Reggie got that_ you’ve got nothing to lose _feeling raging through him. If he was going to go there, he might as well really go there. He had just turned seventeen. He’d be out of this hellhole in a year and with any luck, his mom would work up the courage to go with him._

_“Maybe if you picked up some more work, she wouldn’t have to work all day and all night, and you wouldn’t have to ‘worry’ about her.”_

_Rage illuminated his father’s eyes and Reggie didn’t flinch when the smack came across his face. His mother pulled him back, screaming at her husband._

_“I don’t see you contributing!” His father exclaimed even as he was pulled away._

_His mother grabbed her purse and Reggie’s flannel, which was still draped over the kitchen table from the night before, and pulled him toward the back door even as his father still screamed. He grabbed his shoes that were still by the door from last night. Once outside, she fought with the keys but he took them from her, knowing she was too exhausted to get them anywhere. Her brown eyes, just like his, gazed back at him, helplessly, apologetically, as he took the keys._

_“You wanna get some breakfast?” He asked quietly._

_She nodded, defeated as she slipped into the passenger seat of her station wagon and let him start up the car. They remained silent, her forehead rested against the window as he drove, making his way to the nearest McDonalds. He ordered his mother’s usual, along with a sausage and biscuit for him and a couple of coffees._

_“Since when do you drink coffee?” She smirked as he added in cream and sugar._

_“Please mom, I’m practically an adult,” he teased, though even as he sipped at the coffee, he grimaced at how strong it was._

_She only laughed, gulping the hot coffee down like a pro. He echoed in her laughter, grateful that for even a moment he was able to put a smile on her face. He never felt like he was good for much in this world, but if his bad jokes and stupid antics were the thing that made others smile, he didn’t mind. He parked the car in an empty spot and couldn’t help but to steal a glance to his face in the mirror. His normally pale skin was streaked with red across the right side of his face where his father hit him, and the fingerprints on his forearm were already darkening. But they would fade. By the time he met with the band later for practice, he would look perfectly okay. Reggie didn’t say anything as he pulled on his flannel jacket to cover them up, for now. For a few moments they ate in silence, his mom was practically done in seconds and he felt terrible, realizing she likely hadn’t had anything to eat her entire night shift._

_“I’m sorry,” he finally sighed, turning to her. “I should have remembered to tell him.”_

_“Reggie, you don’t have anything to be sorry about.”_

_Gently, she brought a hand up to caresses his mark-free cheek and god he hated how his body flinched on instinct. Her face stiffened, noticing his reaction immediately, but of course they never talked about the Elephant in The Room. Because his mom admitting that it was wrong for his father to ever hurt either of them only meant admitting that it was shitty of her to stay married to him in the first place. Instead, she turned away, taking another sip of coffee instead._

_“You wanna just drive around?” He asked._

_As groggy as he had felt being woken up too early, he was spinning with adrenaline now; and he knew his mother handled car rides like a child, she’d fall asleep in minutes. And he knew neither of them were ready to go back home. She nodded, yawning, and Reggie started the car back up._

“Reggie? _Reggie?_ ”

Reggie awoke with a start. Blinking, he sat back, letting the world came back into focus. He was in a car. He had been asleep in a car. And it was Julie’s dad, sitting beside him, calling out to him, concerned and looking like he didn’t have a clue what he was supposed to be doing.

“Y-yeah,” the bassist stammered.

“We’re here,” Ray explained, even as he still studied the ghost. Glancing out the window, he found they were parked on the long driveway leading up to the Wilson’s mansion.

All the phantoms had wanted when they first went to Caleb was to be visible to Trevor, to get their revenge. Now…Reggie couldn’t have felt more shaken and unsure of himself. Funny how just a split-second memory of his father still had that effect on him, twenty-five years into his death. For someone who supposedly had magic powers, he didn’t feel any kind of special at that moment.

All he could think of was how he should have worked way harder than he did, so that he could help get his mom out of that awful excuse for a marriage. He should have _made_ them go somewhere, _anywhere_ else. But she had always wanted to stay, so that Reggie could graduate with his friends. So that he wouldn’t have to leave the band. So that she could always give her marriage a third, fourth, fifth chance. So that she could support her husband the tenth and eleventh time he promised he would sober up, because he likely wouldn’t make it if she left. And he had wanted to give his parents that chance too. Every time things reached the breaking point it was like everything would snap and they’d take a step back and try again, until ultimately the cycle repeated itself.

Even after Luke and Alex had both fled their families and moved into the studio, Reggie still stayed at home, for her…until he died and left her.

“Are you okay?” Ray asked him, cutting into his awful stream of consciousness. “You don’t look too good…even for a ghost.”

Shaking himself out of it, Reggie reminded himself that he was supposed to be Ray’s freaking protector. If something as simple as a nightmare shook him this much, he didn’t have any hope against Caleb.

“I’m fine,” Reggie finally lied, the father didn’t look convinced. He had two kids of his own, he’d know a teenaged lie when he saw one.

Thankfully, Ray’s phone buzzed at that moment, and his eyes lit up when he saw who the message was from.

“It’s Julie!” He announced, his eyes lit up. Relief rushed over Reggie as well, but just as soon as they could celebrate, Ray’s face fell. “They’re in…New York…”

“New York?! We haven’t teleported further than Pasadena! Luke’s never even been to New York.”

He remembered when Willie agreed to drive that band’s bus out to the desert for them, explaining that it took a lot of energy for ghosts to transport themselves and he didn’t want to risk them not being able to make it back. Willie had been so concerned about them going just a few hundred miles, let alone a few thousand.

“Neither has Julie,” Ray replied. He just shook his head, riding out the shock of yet another bombshell. Meanwhile the news lit a spark in Reggie, as he realized that if Luke was suddenly strong enough to teleport a lifer three thousand miles away that he could definitely help Ray get into Trevor’s place.

“Well,” Reggie announced, “Julie shouldn’t be allowed to have all the cool lifer teleportation experiences. You ready for this?”

Ray stared at him, and he realized his choice of words must have made no sense.

“Lifers are what we call the living,” he explained.

“Oh,” Ray nodded, though clearly not understanding any more than he did before. “Great, I just barely finally caught onto all the teenager lingo they, now I have to learn ghost lingo.”

He placed a supportive hand on Ray’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, that’s about as complicated as it gets,” he promised. “I have to warn you, it does _tingle_ a bit. You ready?”

Julie’s dad had the look of uncertainty of a child going on their first rollercoaster…if the roller coaster was a giant security fence with pokey barbed wire that he was about to be teleported through. He held out a hand and Ray took it, skeptical but trusting.

A mere second later they were on the other side of the security fence.

Reggie wasn’t embarrassed to let out a _“woot woot!”_ in celebration that they both made it over in one piece, and even Ray had a grin plastered across his face, in awe that that just happened.

“And that was just a few feet,” Reggie pointed out with a grin. “So, I can take us inside.”

Ray shook his head.

“I want to get answers out of him, not him a heart attack,” he explained.

“Fair point,” Reggie replied, as they walked up to the front door. “Course, I think his dead friend coming to the door in the middle of the night will give him a heart attack anyway, but we can give it the old college try.”

With a warning glare, Ray motioned for him to stay hidden. Closing his eyes, he let out a long breath to calm himself, trying to ground himself in the moment and not be overwhelmed at the idea of seeing Trevor for the first time since his death.

 _This isn’t about you,_ he reminded himself.

“Are you ready?” Ray asked him, still studying him with the same concern he had in the car.

Reggie had to admit, he appreciated being thought of; it wasn’t exactly something he was used to from adults. He nodded, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and staying out of view of the door and camera above it as Ray rang the doorbell. When the door finally opened, Trevor’s face immediately hardened with concern when he saw who it was.

“Ray? Is everything okay…how did you get over the security fence?” Trevor registered that Ray was standing there, alone, panic lit up in his eyes. “Is Julie okay?”

“I need to talk to you about my daughter’s band.”

Trevor’s face paled; he looked like he might fall over. He gripped the doorframe tightly.

“What are you- do you know what time it is?”

Instead of letting him babble on, Reggie felt himself being gently pulled over, and he stiffened as he came face to face with his old friend for the first time since death.

Eyes widening, Trevor took a step back, grabbing onto the wall just beyond the door.

The phantom offered him a small smile as he greeted, weekly:

“Hey, Bobby.”

And Trevor passed out.

Ray rushed forward and Reggie stepped in, helping him catch him (he was still surprised when he could make solid contact) before he could hit the wall.

The father sighed, and admitted:

“We probably could have thought of a better way to do that.”

“Told you so.”

Together, they managed to carry Trevor over to the sofa; it was only once they lifted him on the cushions that Reggie thought _oh yeah, magic_. While he could feel the energy buzzing in him, like it took actual power in him to make him visible right now, he didn’t have a clue how to try something like lifting another body. Ray tapped Trevor on the face, and when he didn’t wake immediately checked to make sure he was breathing. When he was satisfied that he was Ray stood up, giving Trevor some time and space to come around.

Wordlessly Ray stood up, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he admired the platinum record plaques.

“You guys really wrote all these songs, huh?” Ray asked, examining the titles like he was considering the music in a brand-new light.

“Yeah,” Reggie shrugged, trying to not get too emotional about it. “Mostly Luke did the lyrics. We all came up with the music though.”

Ray stopped as he stared at the platinum record for “My Name Is Luke”, his fingering hovering just over the engraved title.

“Wait…Luke is _that_ Luke?”

The bassist couldn’t help but to turn the corners of his lips up in an amused smile; yeah, that was _not_ a conversation they had had with Julie yet.

“Yup.”

“Huh,” Ray echoed with a faint smile.

At that moment Trevor stirred, and Ray rushed back over to him, helping him sit up the sofa. His dazed as roamed the room, searching for Reggie and growing wide when he found him again. This time, Reggie did him the decency of not saying anything.

“Ray,” Trevor finally breathed, “can we make a new rule that you’re not allowed to turn up to my house in the middle of the night with ghosts?”

Pulling the ottoman over so that he could sit across from his friend, Ray replied:

“At this point, I can’t make any promises.”

He sat on the edge of the seat while Trevor looked wildly between him and Reggie.

“And no, you’re not going crazy,” Ray offered. “Unless we’re both having some kind of shared hallucination which…actually would make a hell of a lot more sense than everything else that has happened tonight.”

Trevor’s eyes danced back to Julie’s days, looking as though he was finally realizing that he would never have shown up there like this unless something was really, really wrong.

“Is Julie okay?” Trevor asked again; Reggie was surprised at how genuinely concerned he sounded, and he was struck with the unsettling realization that his old friend knew his bandmate for years longer than he had known her.

He also noted that Trevor was carefully avoiding having to actually address Reggie.

“No, she’s not,” Ray admitted, staring down at his hands for a moment as he hesitated, deciding how honest he wanted to be. At last, he looked back up at Trevor, silently asking for his trust as he continued: “I’m sorry to come here in the middle of the night like this, but we can’t afford to waste any time. Is Carrie here?”

“She stayed the night at one of the girl’s houses after her rehearsal,” Trevor was absolutely shaking, looking as though he could kill over again any moment. “Look, I don’t know how you guys are back, or what you want from me…”

Rolling his eyes, Reggie had to turn away before he did anything he might regret. Like Trevor really wouldn’t know _exactly_ why the band would be pissed at him. As anger build up inside him, he couldn’t help but to notice the hall light flickering madly, just as the studio lights did earlier- the two other men clearly noticed as well but didn’t comment.

 _Why the lights?_ He wanted to know. It was just so… _textbook ghost_.

All the same, he could feel the energy within him starting to boil, like angry waves rushing to the ocean surface. He let out a few long, slow, breaths, determined to not do anything that would actually make Trevor run (or throw Ray out). The whole point of this, he kept reminding himself, was to see if he had any answers.

He could be mad about everything else later.

“This isn’t about that,” Ray promised calmly. “The fact is they’re back, and they- the guys and Julie- are in trouble.”

Trevor still looked between the both of them, like he couldn’t decide who in the room was the craziest.

“What kind of trouble can you get into as ghosts?” He asked, though even as he did he sounded skeptical, like he had some idea.

“I know that the Rose we met the night we died is Julie’s mom,” Reggie explained. “Julie was able to bring us back as ghosts somehow, after twenty-five years. She just played our demo and it was like we were pulled out of purgatory. But it turns out that after we were brought back, we have these…powers.”

The Rockstar blinked.

“Powers?” He repeated. Bitterness swept through him as he was reminded of the many, many times a much younger _Bobby_ had mocked an idea of his. “Like… _superpowers_?”

“Like…magic powers.”

There was no response.

Not that he had expected any.

“Yeah, it was a shock for me too,” Ray commented, an obvious attempt to lighten the tension in the room; it didn’t help. Clearing his throat, he continued: “Look, Trevor, I know that you and Rose were interested in ghosts and the afterlife. _Very_ interested. And I just…I had wondered if you had found out anything. Because if you did, I’m thinking you might be able to help us.”

Trevor just shook his head as he slowly got to his feet, avoiding Ray’s hand reaching out to help him stand. He didn’t ask for permission as he started to strode back toward the grand staircase.

“I don’t know what this is,” he announced, voice shaking, “but I just…I _can’t_.”

Reggie didn’t hesitate to poof right over to the staircase so that he stood halfway up. This time though, Trevor’s hands gripped the staircase until his knuckles were white, his eyes were wide and vacant, but he didn’t run.

“Have you ever heard of the Hollywood Ghost Club?” Reggie asked coolly. The Rockstar stiffened, like he might as well have smacked him. “Because you seem to be exactly their clientele, you being all Mr. Big Shot Rich Rockstar guy and all.”

He could hear his own voice echo in his head, telling the guys _“I knew rich people did weird stuff…”_

The other man took a slow step backward but still didn’t argue.

“I guess if my three bandmates had died when I was seventeen, and I was rich enough, I’d try to find a way to see ghosts too,” the bassist admitted.

It was easy to assume that Bobby could have been fascinated enough with death after escaping his own demise so narrowly at such a young age, but when he considered what rich people likely were really looking for at the Ghost Club, everything clicked into place. Not only was it a taste of the afterlife…it was likely the promise of seeing their late loved ones.

Ray stood behind Trevor, face grim as he realized what Reggie was getting at.

“What deal did you make?” Reggie asked, his own voice quiet and weak.

That was more poetic irony from the universe then; even though death had separated them, even their surviving bandmate had been naïve enough to seek help from Caleb.

“I didn’t go through with any deal, that’s the problem,” Trevor finally replied. He sank down to the bottom step, his whole body seeming to melt as the façade that was Trevor Wilson began to break away, like a crack in a mirror. Reggie made the bold move to sit beside him, one step up, tensing at how surreal it felt to be sitting by Bobby once again. It still felt just like _yesterday_ that they had last shared a mic. At last Trevor looked up again, glancing between his life-long friend and childhood best friend, silently asking for any ounce of sympathy they might have left for him. “What trouble have you guys gotten into with Caleb?”

Reggie’s eyes narrowed at how strange it was to hear the sound of their arch enemy in the afterlife’s name come out of his old bandmate’s mouth. It sounded like Trevor hadn’t said that name in years, like he kept it tucked away.

“So, for us, that night at the Orpheum feels like it just happened,” Reggie started, carefully deciding how to tell the story because he could tell Ray was getting anxious to get to what had happened with Trevor and Rose. “Like I said, we don’t know how we’re back, but somehow Julie brought us back. Somehow, anyone can hear us play but when we’re with Julie, people can see us. It didn’t take us long to learn about what you did to us so…we wanted to get revenge. We learned that Caleb could make ghosts visible to lifers, so we went to see him, but he just wanted us to be under his control, at the Ghost Club, for eternity. He put this curse on us, and basically, we either had to join him forever or just flicker out of existence, not get to crossover to Heaven or anything. We found out if we could figure out our unfinished business that we could still crossover, and we thought that was playing at the Orpheum.”

“I saw you guys there.”

For Reggie, it was a complete shock that Trevor was even at the Orpheum. He felt his body grow even colder than normal, stiff at the thought that their ex-bandmate had seen that performance which, frankly, they had all agreed was the greatest show they had ever put on. He had seen Luke flickering, then. 

“I saw the video Julie put on Youtube, and Carrie said you were playing the Orpheum,” Trevor explained. “I thought I was going crazy, so I had to see you for myself. You guys were incredible.”

 _Incredible_ fell out of him with almost no emotion, like he felt he had no right to even compliment them after all he had done.

“We didn’t know you were there,” Reggie said quietly, “and we couldn’t crossover. We thought we were done for, so we went back to the studio, where Julie found us. All of a sudden, for the first time she was able to touch Luke, and we were able to physically feel her. It felt like we were instantly stronger, it was like we hadn’t realized how bad the curse was until it started to lift. Then the stamps that bound us to Caleb, they just faded away. Ever since then it’s like we’re totally different ghosts, and we have all this _power_. I can just make myself visible to lifers, we can _touch_ lifers. It’s like it was all just under the surface this whole time, but now Caleb is _really_ threatened by us.”

“You guys didn’t make any more deals, did you?”

Reggie shook his head. Trevor remained totally still, rather he was processing any of this at all, he had no idea.

“We didn’t…Alex did.”

At that his old friend looked up, his face softening, and clearly he knew enough about Caleb to know that if Alex was under his control it was _bad_.

“His…ghost friend helped us find Caleb,” Reggie explained, not sure of how much Alex would want him to share. “Then when things went bad, he helped us escape. Caleb retaliated by trying to destroy his soul…the only way he would stop was if Alex gave him his instead. But he’s after all of us, even Julie.”

He wasn’t sure what it meant that Trevor seemed to understand exactly the severity of the situation they were in, or that he didn’t even ask him anything else. Or even call him crazy.

“How much did you and Rose find out about ghosts?” Ray asked again, cutting to the chase. “Because Caleb seems to be under the impression that Julie has something to do with their ghost powers, and if Rose was involved too…I think I have the right to know.”

Instead of answering, the Rockstar only stood up, sighing heavily, his eyes dark as a quarter of a century of memories flooded him. The bassist immediately jumped to his feet, to block him from trying to escape, but instead Trevor announced:

“After you guys died, I just…I couldn’t go on. At all. I still don’t know how I even got home from the Orpheum that night. All I know is that, who I was…he died with you guys that night. They tried to get you to the hospital, but you were so far gone when they put you in the ambulance. They wouldn’t let me go with you…I knew it would be the last time I’d see you alive. Rose was right there with me.”

It almost felt like someone was talking about someone else’s life, someone else’s death that surely couldn’t have been his.

“I don’t remember you guys being there,” Reggie admitted quietly.

Trevor’s eyes flashed to him, softer this time, filled with the memory of the bassist’s death, and for the first time Reggie couldn’t have been any more grateful that he hadn’t been the surviving member of Sunset Curve. Because he knew the reality. He knew that surviving wouldn’t have meant a brand-new appreciation for life, fixing things with his parents, and striving to do as much justice for his friends as he could with his life. It would have been _horrible_. Being away from Alex and Luke for just these past few hours felt like torture, it was _torture_ not knowing what was happening to them, and if Caleb’s plan was to leave him in the dark until he was just desperate to know if his friends were safe, it was working. He couldn’t imagine them just suddenly being _gone_ , without him.

“That’s probably because you died first.”

His reply was so soft, he wasn’t even sure if he heard correctly until he noticed Ray’s face melting with pain, his eyes falling on him, filled with sympathy.

Reggie had known, of course, that he had died first. He remembered, distinctly, the feeling of fighting for his last breaths, someone telling him it’s going to be okay, to hold on, and he could remember the blurry vision of Alex coughing up blood beside him, screaming for help, could hear Luke’s struggling for breath himself and then just…nothing.

But no one had actually pointed out to him, out loud, that he had been the first to die.

“I couldn’t face your family, or media, or bury you or anything,” Trevor continued quietly, cautiously, watching to see if Reggie needed time, but he couldn’t bring himself to cut in anymore. He just listened. “We dropped off all the equipment and your stuff in the loft and I knew I had to just disappear. For months I saw you visions of you guys everywhere I went, I heard your voices, I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing your faces. Rose insisted that she come with me I left…truth be told, I don’t think she wanted to be left behind after going through that herself.”

And judging from Ray’s reaction, this was brand new news to him that his wife and Trevor had ever spent a significant amount of time _together_.

“How did you guys find out about Caleb?” Reggie asked.

“ _We_ didn’t…he found me. Turns out, a young, vulnerable, kid who had just witnessed his three best friends die was exactly the kind of clientele he fed on. It’s not just rich people. He tried to recruit me, multiple times. I guess once you’re on his list he really doesn’t let it go.”

Reggie wrapped around his stomach; he could still feel the pain of the jolts, it was like dying all over again.

“How did you get rid of him?”

“The final time I met him was when I first overdosed. I was twenty. He came to give me one last offer.” 

A knot twisted in Reggie’s chest as he pulled his knees closer to them, hugging them, refusing to meet anyone’s eyes. _Drugs_. The nightmare all their parents had feared when they started gigging. And yeah, they had been offered drugs a _lot_. At parties, at gigs, at clubs they used fake IDs to be able to play at. Reggie had been too afraid of his family’s addiction history to try anything, and they had fought hard to keep it all about the music, always.

All that effort, and by _twenty_ Bobby had overdosed. For only the first time.

“I thought I had imagined him,” Trevor confessed. “I was out of it. He said I could still have my whole life ahead of me, all the success I could dream of…and he said I could see you guys again, but I didn’t have to die to do it. I didn’t realize I was making a deal,” his friend promised; Reggie felt for him, he knew exactly what he meant. “When I came around, it didn’t take long for Caleb to start stalking me, expecting me to pay my dues at his club. At that point we weren’t even in Hollywood, that freak is _everywhere_.”

“Did he want you for his band too?” Reggie asked, feeling stupid as soon as the words came out of his mouth and Trevor raised an eyebrow.

“I went to his club once,” Trevor went on, “and it was enough for me to realize how stupid I had been. He _feeds_ off of souls, even lifers. Maybe he’s feeding off of this power that you say you have as ghosts, and he’s taking it from us so that we don’t have any left when we die. Most of the lifers there were rich, naïve, but I could see what was going on. I could tell how weak I felt after I went. I wasn’t going to go back, and it was like he started making my life miserable as soon as I made up my mind. It was like my life was cursed. I kept losing jobs, I was always sick, I had no energy, no motivation, even the people around me…more of my older relatives died during that particular time than any other. I had _three_ different car wrecks just in that year. Maybe I was going crazy or was just depressed, but I knew Caleb didn’t let anyone go that easy.

I finally told Rose, and she offered to help me find another way to learn about ghosts without going back to his club. She begged me to go back home, said that we could start over. I decided that if I was going to survive, the only way I could was erasing my identity completely. As far as anyone knew, the surviving member of Sunset Curve was never seen again after that night at the Orpheum. I saw my parents again, but that was it. I erased everything, even you guys…it was the only way I could begin to try to move forward. And it worked. I don’t know, maybe Caleb found new fish to fry, but I’ve been hiding under the identity of Trevor Wilson ever since. Right under his nose.”

It was a lot to take in.

The idea that Bobby had actually had it nearly as bad with Caleb as they had, that he had been hiding from him for two decades…it shook him to the core. His mind was racing, panicking at the idea that maybe they really would just be _running_ for the rest of their afterlives.

“And Ray, I promise, Rose never went to his club,” Trevor spoke up; Ray’s face was so pale he was nearly grey, he looked like he had been robbed of his voice altogether. And he looked _pissed_. “She never even met him. Once she knew ghosts were real she was determined to try to find some way, but we never did. When my fake identity actually started working, we eventually gave up. I just wanted to live my new life and try to put all of that behind me. Especially when she had Julie, I asked her to let it go. I didn’t want to ever risk…I thought that was behind us.”

Slowly, he stood up, to face his old friend…

…and without warning, Ray grabbed him, shoving him up against the stairwell wall, looking fit to kill. Dejavu washed over him as Reggie quickly tried to stand between them, his eyes tired and distraught as they met Ray’s.

“Don’t,” he stated quietly, calmly.

“It _killed_ me, to lose her, and I would still never…” his voice was shaking now, his whole body trembling with shock, exhaustion.

Reggie just placed a hand on his shoulder and promised:

“I know.”

“It can’t be a coincidence that he’s after Julie now,” Ray declared, still refusing to let go of Trevor, who just helplessly let himself be pinned back.

“I still think exactly what Julie has always thought, that somehow her mom was able to send us here,” Reggie said. He knew the last thing they needed was Ray punching the daylight out of Trevor and getting arrested for beating up a Rockstar. And in a bizarre way, it was like the wheels were starting to turn in his head. Things were clicking into place as he continued: “Maybe this isn’t just about _our_ unfinished business. If Rose was able to send us back, who knows, maybe she somehow knew we have this _power_ that Caleb is so threatened by and sent us back to defeat him.”

It made as much sense as anything else, not that they had any idea how their powers worked or how they could ever use them to defeat Caleb. Or how they could even touch Caleb without having their own souls snatched up instantly. But it was at least some kind of explanation that tied everything together and, if he were being honest, he was quite proud that he had been the one to piece it together.

“Or maybe,” Ray breathed, drawing in a deep breath like a last attempt to calm himself down; it didn’t seem to work, “you can show me where his club is, and I can hand him over in exchange for Julie’s safety. That’s how he works, isn’t it? That’s how Alex was able to save his friend, he gave up his soul.”

God how Reggie wished that idea didn’t sound so rational in his head, and he knew it did to Trevor to because the man’s eyes were suddenly blown wide in terror, and for the first time he tried to get away. He knew that Ray wasn’t thinking straight, that he was acted out of fear for his own family. He couldn’t let him do anything too rash, that he would regret.

“Stop!” Reggie demanded after him, growing fairly irritated by the moment that he, the dead teenager, was somehow being the voice of reason here.

An expensive looking floor lamp crashed to the ground nearby, making Ray flinch but Trevor froze right up, looking physically incapable of moving. His eyes dashed around, his fingers wiggled but his arms didn’t move.

“What are you doing to me?” Trevor demanded hoarsely.

The phantom knew that he should really, _really_ be freaking more than he was that _I totally just did that!_ but his eyes only narrowed as he slowly approached his old friend, trying to figure out for himself what happened. Trevor was literally frozen in place, at his simple, silent, command. As Reggie circled him until he could face him, and he couldn’t help but to announce as their eyes met:

“These powers would have been _so_ helpful in high school.”

Unsure of how to break the spell himself, he simply placed a hand on Trevor’s shoulders, silently giving him permission to relax but stay put. And Trevor did just that.

“I have a daughter, Ray,” Trevor finally breathed.

Reggie could practically see _“So do I”_ forming from Ray’s lips but he didn’t respond. He looked a bit freaked out himself that any of this had happened, even that he had reacted like he did.

“Julie wouldn’t want this,” Reggie pointed out, and both men softened at that realization. He patted his friend on the shoulder, where he had just been able to free him. A shadow of a lopsided grin fell across his face. “We’ll just call you Plan B.”

Not amused, Trevor glared at him but didn’t respond. He looked like he wasn’t sure if he should be running for his life or grateful for Reggie stepping in. Reggie’s eyes searched his former bandmate’s face, wondering how in god’s name they had ended up here. Wasn’t it just yesterday that Bobby was speeding them through the streets of LA, carrying them from gig to gig in his beat-up van, reminding Reggie to call his mom when they finally got through at 1am and she was finally getting off her shift? Wasn’t it Bobby who had toilet papered Alex’s parents’ house after he ran away, after his parents had practically silent treated him to death?

Now here they were, ghost and washed-up Rockstar with a fake identity, running from a mutual supernatural enemy.

Considering he was pretty sure that he was originally the most ready to make Trevor pay for betraying them originally, he now just… _understood_. They were fighting the same fight, however they had ended up in it. And funny enough…that just felt a bit good.

“Did he stamp you?” Reggie asked.

With a single nod, Trevor raised his wrist and pulled back his robe to reveal…a horrendously ironic guitar tattoo.

“It works a bit different with lifers,” Trevor explained, “it gets etched into you. Over time it faded, but I don’t think it’s physically gone away. I think it just gets etched into your soul. There was still always a faint outline though, so I got this ugly ass thing to cover it up, at least to lifers.”

“Alex has a black one,” Reggie commented as he examined not only the tattoo, but the obvious faded track mark scars further up his arm. 

“I’m going to try to reach Julie,” Ray interrupted, almost absent-mindedly. He disappeared from the room, not looking for permission. He looked like he really just needed space.

Slowly, Trevor turned toward him, and finally for the first time in his twenty-five year afterlife, he heard his own name from his old friend:

“Reggie…about the music. After you guys died, I wasn’t able to play music again. I couldn’t even listen to music for months. Rose was the only person able to inspire me to play again.”

Reggie bit his lip, remembering how Julie hadn’t been able to even sit at a piano the full year after her mother died. If he had been the surviving member, the phantom knew he likely would have never been able to play music again, _ever_.

“She helped me write some songs, but she thought it would be healing if I tried to play some of our old stuff,” he explained. His eyes were raw, likely tears were trying to prickle but nothing was left after so many years of grief. “She was right, when I played our stuff it was like I finally felt connected to you guys again. I really didn’t want to totally lose you, even if I was trying to start over. I just didn’t think I could handle my entire career revolving around being the surviving member of Sunset Curve. And beyond that, it was a _shitty_ record deal. _I_ barely got credit for the songs. I’m so sorry. I really wasn’t trying to steal your legacy.”

And…Reggie believed him.

He just sounded so hopeless, like he didn’t even have anything left to gain by lying or telling the truth. Trevor was just living on borrowed time like the rest of them, teetering between clinging to the last part of his past that he still owned and the pieces of his broken present. Reggie didn’t want to say it, but maybe it wasn’t that Caleb physically needed to catch up to him after all. He was living out the curse with his pain, day after day, until one day there would just be _nothing_.

His face was suddenly wet, and he hadn’t even realized he had started crying. He couldn’t help it…he threw his arms around his old friend, grateful when Trevor didn’t push back.

“Alex is a huge fan of Carrie’s, you know,” he commented with a small smile once they broke apart.

Trevor’s eyes lit up in a mix of surprise and amusement.

“Really?”

“Oh yeah! Her group’s pretty good.”

He could tell Trevor was at least a little relieved that his old bandmates thought so.

“Yeah, I’m proud of her,” Trevor admitted, “I just wish she’d slow down. I’m worried about her making the same mistakes I did. And now I sound like all of our parents.”

Admittedly, Reggie’s parents were really only ever concerned about money and not the band or the music scene itself, but he had to smirk because that was exactly what Luke’s parents sounded like.

“Hey, you were smart enough to not eat the street dogs, you had that going for you,” he pointed out.

“That was only because Rose was there and we both know it.”

A hollow laugh escaped them both, and Reggie couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard it must have been having a lifelong friendship with someone that derived from _that_ decision.

“Speaking of your parents…have you guys looked them up?” Trevor asked carefully.

Reggie stilled. Trevor of course would have lived all of these years knowing what happened to their families. He wasn’t sure he was ready to talk about it, but he also didn’t think they could have avoided this elephant in the room for long.

“Luke haunts his parents,” Reggie said. “In a good way, I mean. He just…hangs out at their house with them. I don’t think Alex has any interest in finding out about his, he hasn’t even mentioned them. And for me…I don’t know. If they divorced, then it took me dying to finally get my mom out of that marriage. If they didn’t…then not even my death could save her. To be honest…when I heard what you did, I was really just pissed they couldn’t get any money from our music. You know what kind of financial situation my parents were in.”

Trevor offered him a sad smile, and Reggie had that sinking realization once more of just _how_ much history he had missed out on.

“Reggie, I promise you, between the lawsuit and selling the house, your mom is doing just fine.”

His world stopped.

He could have sworn he felt his heart flutter.

He had no idea how relieved he would be to know his mom was still alive.

“She’s still alive?” He asked quietly, to make sure he understood correctly.

“The Pattersons led you guys’ parents in a massive lawsuit against the hotdog vendor, they all got a pretty decent payout,” Trevor explained.

“Good for them,” Reggie replied, impressed but not at all surprised. That sounded exactly like Luke’s mom. He couldn’t wait to be able to tell him.

Trevor’s face hardened, telling him everything he needed to know before confessing quietly:

“Reggie, your dad died, about fifteen years ago. Your mom had separated and moved back to be with her family by then. I didn’t keep up with any of you guys’ parents personally, I didn’t have the heart. But last time I looked them up, that’s what I found out. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you.”

And that was just…that was just it. Reggie had officially reached the capacity in the amount of breaking news he could take. He couldn’t even process anything more, he just went numb. Since the day that he saw his parents house had been demolished he had assumed something must have happened to them, they were older and his father heavily drank and smoke. But he really, really wasn’t ready to try to figure out how he was supposed to process the fact that not only had he never been given the chance to make peace with the shitty childhood he had but now he was somehow supposed to come to terms with his dad’s death.

Naturally, because he mostly equated the memory of his father with fear, the first thought that hit him was…what if he’s still here, as a ghost? _What if he can find me?_

Panic overwhelmed him at the thought, it was like he couldn’t _breathe_ and he had to remind himself _still dead_. But it felt too much like the world was closing in on him, and he had to poof out. He ended up outside, by the pool, where Ray had been pacing, staring at his phone. He startled for just a moment, before his usual façade returned.

“Julie’s not answering,” Ray told him, “hopefully it just means they’re resting somewhere.”

Ray looked like he was trying very hard to not be concerned that his daughter was spending the night on the other side of the country with a male teenage ghost, and Reggie…

Reggie was spiraling.

He was well aware Ray was looking at him funny, and Reggie felt terrible to have any other bombshell to drop on him tonight. He knew there wasn’t any reason right now that Ray should care about him or his past or his dead dad. But Reggie was used to having two friends who were always by his side and ready to catch him when he was falling; he would have given anything for either of them to be there to see him through this.

“What’s wrong?” Ray finally asked, sounding like he was fearing more bad news from Trevor about Caleb.

“Nothing,” Reggie lied quickly. There was that father of teenagers look again, and Reggie knew he had already trapped himself. “It’s just...Trevor was talking about our parents, and…my dad’s dead.”

If there was any doubt that Ray didn’t have a heart of gold it would have been swept away at how crestfallen he reacted to that news. With everything else going on he still looked so sorry for him, and it hurt.

“I’m so sorry, Reggie,” he offered sincerely. “I guess I just assumed your families were still out there somewhere.”

Reggie just shrugged.

“He…wasn’t a good dad,” he mumbled. His voice was so soft, so weak that he wasn’t even sure if Ray had heard him, but the realization of what he meant seem to strike him. Letting out a long sigh, Reggie confessed: “I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel right now.”

Ray motioned for them to sit on a couple of nearby pool chairs. Reggie followed, finding his body grateful to be sitting down. Even if standing wasn’t physically taxing anymore, his conscious still clearly correlated sitting with relaxing.

“ _Mijo_ , you don’t have to feel anything right now,” Ray said. The use of the endearment “son” sent shivers up his spine, in a reassuring way. “Truth be told, I never really knew my father. He left when I was young. He died when I was thirty and I hadn’t seen him in over fifteen years. I didn’t feel anything when my mother told me, and I felt like a bad person because of it. I felt like I never got any closure. But what I was able to do was let go. It took a while, but I got there. You will too.”

It was, without a doubt, the fatherliest piece of advice he had ever received. Ironically. An almost choking sort of sound left him, but he didn’t have even enough energy left to break down. 

“Thanks, Ray,” he replied softly instead.

They set in silence for a moment, staring at the reflection of the pool lights dancing across the water. He really wasn’t sure where they were supposed to go from here.

“I just wish Rose had told me about everything,” Ray spoke up, like he had been having half the conversation in his head already. “I hate knowing she went through a trauma like that and never felt like she could tell me. That must have been so hard for her, to deal with that alone.”

He sounded so genuinely pained, like he would have given anything to have been able to take that trauma from her, and Reggie did feel badly for him, he couldn’t imagine finding out a secret like that from someone he had been married to for so long.

“She was just trying to protect you,” Reggie said. “Also, I’m not sure that ‘hi, I’m Rose, my best friend is running from an evil ghost who wants his soul and we’re trying to find a way to bring back his three dead friends’ would have been a great pickup line.”

Ray snorted, offering Reggie a grateful pat on the back.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” He let out a long sigh, and had a feeling they were thinking the same thing. If they had a chance of getting through this, saving Julie and fighting Caleb, they would have to let all this baggage go, at least for now. “I’m sorry I lost it in there with Trevor. I was just…in shock. You’re right, Julie would want me to be stronger than that…any idea what we should do next?”

Reggie just shrugged.

“Get ready for a fight, I guess.” He turned to his partner in crime, wanting to make sure he knew he still had an out. “You really don’t have to tag along, you know.”

Ray just shook his head.

“The minute Caleb decided to go after Julie, he went after me,” he replied, “besides you guys are _my_ house’s ghosts. He picks a fight with you, he picks a fight with me. So if we’re doing this, we’re doing this together.”

He held out a hand, and Reggie couldn’t help but to grin as he shook on it.

And if Reggie were being completely, brutally honest with himself, he couldn’t be a little relieved that he wasn’t facing this alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Badass Ray is my new fav thing to write and a badass Ray + Reggie team? Even better! Hoping you guys are enjoying that! And this is maybe not my official Trevor theory but it's so much fun to explore. Plus I'm a year into working from home and going to school online, plus have been snowed/iced in for 6 days now so my brain doesn't have much else fun to think about so it has gone all out with this fic. Shout out to everyone else snowed/iced in! Hope you're doing ok and have had power :/
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, kudos and comments! I love hearing what you guys think and how you feel about where the story is going. Sorry this was so long but it just seemed like it fit better all as one chapter instead of breaking it up. Do you like longer or shorter chapters better? Back to NYC next chapter!


	8. John Lennon's Ghost

Sleeping on the grass in Central Park, under the night sky, with Luke by her side, with his arm wrapped around her and his flannel covering her, was like a dream. Her initial thought had been invisible in NYC means free fancy hotel rooms, but the idea of either possibly becoming un-invisible when an actual guest was checking in or even someone coming in whilst invisible freaked her out too much. Instead, they strode through an empty Central Park until Luke finally gave in and agreed to lay down and try to get some rest, tucked away in what last night seemed like a more private corner of the park. Julie found herself blushing as she woke up, their faces only inches apart. It was the second night in a row they had fallen asleep together, her brain couldn’t help but to remind her.

“Luke?” She called quietly. The phantom’s jaw was clenched tightly, his face contorted into pain. Julie frowned, concerned, remembering how the guys talked about having nightmares but Luke never said what he had dreamed about. It was then Julie realized the amount of people around them, playing catch, basking in the sun and reading, walking on the nearby path. Central Park, as quiet as it was at four in the morning when no one was legally supposed to be there, was alive and well now. Her phone was turned off to save the battery so she reached for Luke’s watch, her eyes widening when she saw it was almost noon. “Luke! _Wake up._ We’ve been asleep all morning.”

 _“Julie…”_ he whined, “come back to bed.”

She stared at him, thinking… _boys_.

“Yeah, well _bed_ is Central Park, and there are people here now and it’s lunchtime,” she commented.

His eyes widened with realization as he took in the bright sun beaming down on him and the people all around them.

“They still can’t see you?” He asked.

Julie waved as a little boy ran by them, chasing after a frisbee. The boy didn’t even notice.

“Apparently.”

“Wow,” he threw a sleepy smile toward her, “I must be pretty good at this whole magic thing.”

Rolling her eyes, Julie tried to ignore how effortlessly charming he was, even half asleep…which grew harder to ignore as he reached up, pulling a leaf out of her hair. Her whole body tensed and her heart raised, just at the simple touch.

“Did you get any sleep?” He asked her.

She nodded.

“Yeah,” she replied. “I guess we better figure out our game plan.”

Julie checked her phone and her heart sank when she saw both how low the battery was and that her dad had called and texted her multiple times to check in. Thankfully it was still only nine back in LA, but she knew Flynn would be up soon enough and texting as well

“And I guess the first step in our plan should be finding somewhere to charge my phone so I can call my dad back,” she explained, holding the phone up to him. He grimaced when he saw all the missed calls and texts and didn’t hesitate to get up.

A place to charge her phone ended up being a small bakery-café outside Central Park, where the two sat on the floor in the corner (still invisible), letting Julie’s phone charge by the wall. She placed her bag by it so it looked like the couple at the table above them might be charging a phone, in case it turned out the phone wasn’t as invisible as they were.

Her stomach growled at the smell of fresh bagels, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten since a quick dinner last night that her dad practically forced down her.

“Please Julie, you have to eat something,” Luke begged. “How can you sit here and not be tempted to eat an entire baker’s dozen? I might not be able to smell anymore but I guarantee you it smells amazing in here.”

Julie rolled her eyes, not wanting to admit that while she was starving, she also felt like if she ate she might throw up, she was so anxious and stressed. Ignoring Luke, she tried to call her dad and frowned when the line went to voice mail. She tried a couple more times, with the same result. A pang of homesickness hit her…with her dad clearly up worrying all night she had really thought he’d pick up on the first ring. With any luck, she could only hope he had managed to get a little sleep himself. She settled on texting that they were okay. Not that he had asked about Luke in any of his texts, but she knew Reggie would want to know.

Meanwhile, Luke snuck around the counter before she could protest and stole one of the bagels that had just come out of the oven.

“Please eat one, for me?” He asked, batting his eyes at her.

He handed it to her proudly, and she gaped at him.

“I am not eating stolen food!”

“Then leave them a tip,” he pointed out. Above them the employee let out a sigh, muttering to themselves that they had sworn they had just put out another bagel where that one had set. Luke continued to wave the bagel in front of her face before she finally gave in and took it, only because the smell of fresh cinnamon was practically radiating from it. And of course, when she bit into it, it _was_ heavenly.

“I really hope people aren’t seeing a bagel eat itself,” she muttered.

They looked around, bemused to realize no one still noticed them, at all. When Luke at last seemed satisfied that she was eating something, he sat against the wall beside her, their shoulders barely brushing against each other.

“When we left last night, it was like I could feel Caleb zoning in on us,” he explained, “but as soon as we poofed out it was like I haven’t been able to feel him since. I don’t think it’s just that we’re invisible, I think that he can’t track us down either. I know we can’t hide forever…but you gotta admit, it’s effective.”

His eyes twinkled in that familiar, daring, way of his, and Julie rolled hers. She had no doubt that if it wasn’t for the rest of the band being in such dire situations back home that Luke would love nothing more than to take Manhattan with her, with them both invisible, and totally live it up. She could easily imagine the kind of damage he could do on this city.

“Yeah,” she said, swallowing some more bites, “but I’m not convinced that using all of this magic isn’t completely draining you. You look terrible.”

It was true, even though they had slept Luke still looked like he had a couple of decades of rest to catch up on. Even his eyes were hazier than usual, the spark in them not as bright.

“I’m _fine_.”

“You’re lying.”

_“Julie.”_

She knew he could push himself beyond any magical or ghost limits if she didn’t try to stop him. With a sigh, Luke leaned his head back against the café wall, thinking.

“By putting his stamp on us he must have been able to like…stamp out our magic, so that’s why we were never able to do much,” Luke suggested.

“Makes sense,” she replied. “Do you feel any different? With all that magic unleashed?”

He just shrugged. Luke looked so typical teenage boy seated beside her, his flannel loose on his shoulders, his hair ever so slightly ruffled up from sleeping on the ground. He looked like the last person around them that would possess _magical powers_.

“I feel like I have all this energy rushing through me,” he explained, “but I don’t know what to do with it. It’s like I can feel myself making us invisible to Caleb, but there’s still a lot of energy left in there. After yesterday, with Carrie, I’m afraid to try anything.”

A sympathetic smile crossed her face at the thought of him being too worried to do anything with his magic in fear of hurting someone else.

“You probably just need to learn how to harness your powers correctly,” she said. He lifted an eyebrow, impressed with the suggestion. “I mean, that’s how it works in basically any kind of book or TV show where people are magic. Obviously, you don’t need to recite any actual spells to use magic, maybe it’s about concentrating your energy on doing one certain thing.”

Julie felt guilty when Luke’s face sank, like he didn’t look convinced of his own potential at all.

“Hey,” Julie said quietly, taking his hand. The simple touch seemed to ease him so much, and she smiled. “You already make so much magic with your music. Your songs have power. They’re like an instant connection with people, it makes people…feel things. Just your voice and your words do that, and you figured how to do that as a teenager. You can figure out this kind of magic too.”

The guitarist offered her the smallest of smiles and she beamed at him, knowing she had gotten through to him. Shuffling closer to him, she lowered her head to his shoulder, letting him wrap an arm around her.

“So…” he asked, his lips so close to her ear she practically shuddered. “If my music is so powerful, how exactly does my music make you feel?”

She blushed and his grinned widened, knowing he was making her _slightly_ uncomfortable. After all, they had totally glossed over the fact that she had admitted to him that Trevor’s music- _Luke’s_ music- introduced her to rock.

“You knew all of my songs that Trevor Wilson stole,” he pointed out. “Take ‘Crooked Teeth’. How do it make you feel?”

“It makes me feel bad for Reggie,” she shot playfully, and they shared a laugh.

“How about ‘In Your Starlight’?” He asked softly, brushing her hair away from her face.

Suddenly, they felt almost too close, it felt like he was practically reading her mind, which was a weird enough feeling at home in the studio, let alone in a café full of people. And he knew it was their- Trevor’s- most romantic song too.

“Come on,” he murmured. “You said _my songs_ introduced you to rock.”

She was certain her face was blood red with embarrassment. Goosebumps felt electrifying against her skin, she was practically buzzing at the connection they had…which she knew she didn't need to obsess over. Not right now.

Her only hope now was changing the subject completely.

“And who introduced you to rock?” She asked. “You never told me about how you got into music.”

Suddenly his eyes lit up, and without explaining Luke jumped to his feet. Checking her phone, Julie was satisfied to see that it had charged almost all the way up, at least enough to get her through the day. She double checked that she was still invisible by waving in front of the cashier before carefully sneaking a bottle of water out of the fridge.

“What is it?” She called after him as she tore out of the café, trying to keep up after him. They were running right through a sea of people on the sidewalk, and she didn’t think she’d ever get used to the sensation. It was like she felt like she should be hitting a brick wall and when she didn’t, she felt lighter than ever.

“There’s something I need to see.”

He held out his hand, and she realized he wanted to try teleporting again.

“You sure?” She asked cautiously.

“I feel stronger,” he promised, “I don’t feel like, teleporting us both back to L.A. while keeping you invisible strong, but maybe it’s a thing you work back up to.”

She took his hand, trusting him. This time the teleportation went much smoother, lasting only an instant, and when she opened her eyes again, she found herself standing in front of…an apartment building? Julie looked around, confused, but noticed that they weren’t the other ones standing in front of the iron gate surrounding the old building. People were taking pictures, reading their phones, getting extra information, an older woman was even crying…

“Where are we?” Julie asked, feeling like she was missing something obvious.

“This is where John Lennon got shot,” he explained, shaking his head in disbelief that he was even there. “He was living here at the time. I was kind of hoping…well, I was kind of wondering…”

“If his ghost might be here?” She finished for him.

He nodded. She knew it sounded a bit silly, but she could see where she was coming from. If places like the Hollywood Ghost Club existed, it wasn’t unreasonable to think that celebrities might be ghosts too.

“Do you really think the ghost of John Lennon would just hang around his old house?” She asked.

Surely a former Beatle would have a lot more interesting things to do in the afterlife than that?

Luke shrugged.

“We did,” he pointed out, hopefully.

“You want to go in there, don’t you?” She asked, dreading his answer. The irrational fear of potentially getting stuck in walls made her shudder. 

“No,” he finally sighed. “I guess it was stupid.”

 _He really is just teenaged boy,_ she thought sadly.

“It wasn’t. You know most of these people are probably wondering if his ghost is around too,” she said, taking his hand. They shared a smile as she quietly led him away, crossing the street again into Central Park. “So were The Beatles your first music love?”

“Oh yeah,” Luke replied. “At one point in their life my parents were fun people who loved music and The Beatles, and my dad loved it when I started learning their songs on his old guitar, so he bought me a new one and told me I should keep playing. They didn’t expect me to get as carried away with music as I did.”

It was a while before she realized exactly where he was leading her, until the _Imagine_ memorial plaque was in view. They lingered to the side, watching as tourists kneeled down and took selfie after selfie. Around them different buskers played familiar hits; it was a _surreal_ feeling.

And to know of all things Luke could have rushed to see in New York, that this was most important was so endearing.

“So…” she spoke up after a long moment of people watching. “What’s your favorite Beatles song?”

A faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips, and her heart skipped a beat when he started to sing, his voice lower than usual, genuine, passionate…

 _Close your eyes and I'll kiss you_ _  
Tomorrow I'll miss you  
Remember I'll always be true  
And then while I'm away, I'll write home every day  
And I'll send all my loving to you_

To her surprise, no one noticed him singing.

It was _just for her_.

In fear that she would literally melt to the ground she held his hand tighter, letting their arms swing as finished the verse, smiling at her. Their eyes met, she practically couldn’t breathe, and it was too much tension for her own good.

“I’m suddenly feeling a _lot_ stronger,” Luke finally announced after a painfully long moment of pure connection between them. “If you wanna try out some more of this magic stuff?”

 _I’m pretty sure you already have,_ she thought to herself, feeling unbearably hot and flustered.

“Y-yeah,” she stammered.

And of course he had to grin that goofy, electrifying, grin of his as he teleported them away again.

Luke glared at the hand he held out, willing for it to do something, anything. Julie was watching him closely as they sat in the grass in Central Park later that day, by the river now. Locals jogged by, total unaware of their presence as the two teenagers sat, trying to do magic. They had no clue what they were doing, or what either of them should be able to do, but since Luke had been experiencing the most magic they thought they would start small. But they had been at this for an hour already, and while granted he was pretty sure he had been able to make some ripples dance along the river (she hadn’t been convinced that it wasn’t just wind), he had accomplished nothing.

“Just concentrate.”

“I _am_ ,” he insisted.

“Then what exactly are you trying to do?” Julie challenged.

He was really, really trying to not get too frustrated, but he knew she had a point.

“I have no idea,” he admitted, shaking his head, feeling ridiculous, “I have no idea what I’m doing. I feel like an idiot.”

_“Don’t.”_

How she had so much patience with him, he would never understand. He felt like he should be bursting with power already, but his mind was all over the place. Luke constantly had a six sense of worry over Julie: he was worried that at any moment the protection spell would break, or that Caleb was lurking in the shadows, or even things as routine as the worry that she’d get hurt, or making sure she ate food was driving him insane with anxiety. Then he had to worry about Reggie, how he was coping with Ray, if they were still safe or if Caleb had gotten to him to.

Then there was Alex…

“Maybe we should take a walk,” Julie suggested, seeming to sense he was way too caught up in his own head to truly concentrate. “Get our minds off of this for awhile.

Silently he got to his feet, helping her up and taking her bag from her.

“You really don’t have to carry that,” she said.

“Nah, it’s weightless to me.”

Any other trip to New York City and he would have been all over the sites, ready to get lost in the cityscape, the _music_. But for now, it was nice being able to hang out in Central Park. Julie had pointed out how in stories, magic usually came from the earth and nature, so maybe the closer they stayed to nature the easier it might be to conjure their own magic. It also helped that the park was less congested with the rest of the city, bustling enough with energy but spacious enough to find a private place to hide away. Them against the world.

If only he could clear his mind because right now all he could think of was how weak, how scared Alex looked after only a short time with Caleb. His consciousness was plaguing him with all sorts of imagines of Alex being hurt, being trapped in the Ghost Club. He felt so helpless, combined with a crushing fear that _what if this was it_? What if they couldn’t beat Caleb?

And what if Alex spent the last year of his life on their fling, on being practically disowned by his parents, on living in the studio and Luke dragging him around LA, eating sketchy food, dying by _hot dog_. Luke had always been cursed with extreme confidence, and maybe that confidence has been holding him up so far in this battle against Caleb, but he was terrified that maybe he was wrong again. Maybe he was fighting a losing battle, and anything he did would only put Alex in worse danger. 

“It’s okay, you know, to be overwhelmed right now,” Julie spoke up quietly.

He let out a hollow laugh.

“Overwhelmed doesn’t even begin to cover it.”

He couldn’t shake the thought that _you did this to him_. Luke wasn’t sure what was worse, the thought that if he had never roped Alex into joining the band, if they had never gone into ambush mode or moved into the studio, that he wouldn’t be dead…or the selfish thought that he wasn’t sure what life would have even been without Alex in it, and he wasn’t sure how he would have gotten through his death so far without him either.

And on top of those circling thoughts was the nagging feeling that _you’re doing the same to Julie_. _Her life is in danger because of you._

;“Luke,” Julie called. he blinked, shaking his head. He wasn’t sure how long she had been trying to get his attention, but he came back to reality to find her staring at him with those big (beautiful, alive) concerned eyes. He only felt more guilt; he was supposed to be able to be strong, for her. At last, she whispered: “I’m worried about Alex too.”

The racing thoughts picked up again. He felt numb, unable to speak or concentrate. Mentally he felt dizzy, though he knew he was perfectly okay. It hit him that it was like he was feeling ghost version of a panic attack. Luke was grateful that she took his hand, keeping him grounded.

“Hey,” Julie said, bringing her free hand to his cheek. Her touch felt warm, comforting, but it did nothing to ease his racing mind. “You can talk to me, you know.”

He shook his head again, trying to figure out where to even begin. He wasn’t used to this, being away from the guys, who practically knew _everything_ about him. They were like brothers, he was comfortable with them emotionally, physically even, as they had so often only had each other to rely on for support and comfort. With Alex though those feelings just went so much deeper, and while he knew their breakup was for the better, and he really thought he was over their relationship, with Alex being gone and in so much danger it…sparked some old feelings for him. Not romantic feelings, but feelings of being desperate to protect him, to be there for him and be with him again. He felt _responsible_ for Alex.

“I keep thinking about everything that happened before we died,” he confessed. “My relationship with Alex, it’s…it’s complicated, but I guess with him being in so much danger, it’s bringing up all this stuff in my head.”

“Whatever it is, you can tell me if you want to. I won’t judge you, Luke.”

Julie was one of the most caring people he had ever met, and he knew how much more accepting the 21st century was than the 90s. He knew that fear of abandonment if he told the truth was only a leftover fear, all in his head. And he knew was hurting, in ways he couldn’t explain or deal with on his own, and it was eating at him in a way that threatened to take up all his energy. If they were going to survive being on the run from Caleb, he knew he had to be able to talk about this with her. He owned her his honesty.

She took his other hand, letting the weight of their arms hang between them, her backpack forgotten on his shoulder. Her eyes still continued to search, fueling her promise that _it will be okay_.

“You see…Alex and I…” he stopped, taking one last breath, giving himself one last chance to escape if he wanted it. But Julie was staring back at him so intently, the full weight of her world focused on him, wanting to help. In one quick breath he finally confessed: “Alex and I used to date.”

Realization flashed across her eyes. Her lips parted ever so slightly, and her grip on him loosened, just for a split second as she fought to not react. He held onto her desperately, watching, waiting for a response. He could have sworn that disappointment wavered in her eyes, like she had realized what she wanted she could never have…

And then she threw her arms around him.

He could feel her smiling against his shoulder, and a bright smile crossed his lips.

He felt so _relieved_.

Julie squeezed him tight before pulling away gently, tears dancing in her eyes.

“I’m so proud of you,” she whispered.

Luke wasn’t sure how he was supposed to react to that.

“Thanks…I think?”

She through him a lopsided smile, her hands holding onto his forearms.

“Luke you just came out to me, it takes a lot of courage. And I’m sorry if I sent any…mixed signals, I know we get kind of carried away on stage.”

His eyes were wild with emotion as he realized that she was alluding to their _interesting little relationship_.

“No, no, no,” he said, his hands holding onto her as well, “I like guys _and_ girls.”

He really, really shouldn’t have loved how _relieved_ she looked at that announcement. Even better, Julie _knew_ , and she wasn’t running away. Their eyes were both sparkling with energy, their connection so strong it almost felt like they were one, he had to admit only to himself that maybe Reggie was right…maybe they _did_ have chemistry.

Maybe he _had_ been falling for her.

For his own sake, he knew had to pull it together. They had already taken things so fast, these past few weeks, just as friends. It felt like he and the guys may have well has always been in Julie’s life, but she was a living, breathing teenage, girl. Luke knew, deep down, that she deserved to grow old with someone, get married, have kids if she wanted them. It pained him, considering that maybe she didn’t realize for herself how important it was that she have a normal relationship with someone, well, not dead. It wouldn’t be right for him to let her think otherwise.

Then he blinked, and he had wondered just how lost in his own head and ghost hormones he had been because now she looked like she was still waiting for him to finish explaining himself.

“I, um, I wanted to be really honest with you,” he finally explained, “about what I’m feeling. I’m really, really scared for Alex. Things ended fine between us, it was pretty mutual, but it was still _special_ , you know? I still care a lot about him. I’m trying to concentrate on this whole magic thing, and make sure I can still protect you, but I’m still really worried about him. I keep thinking that all this is happening to him because of me. He knew it was a bad idea to eat those street dogs in the first place, and I feel like I should have taken better care of him. I should have made sure the guys were taken care of, and now he’s dead and he doesn’t even have his own soul, and I should have never let him go off on his own…I just feel so responsible for him.”

Once he began getting the thoughts out of his brain it was like he couldn’t stop, and part of him did feel guilty for dumping all of this on her, but she was right it _did_ feel good to communicate for a change.

“I haven’t known you guys long, but I’ve known Alex long enough to know that he would never blame you, for any of that,” she told him, “and you guys are serious friendship goals. I mean, you were together and broke up and you’re still closer friends than anyone I’ve ever met. He knows that we’re fighting for him, and he’s so strong, I know he’s fighting too. I can’t imagine how scared you are, and I’m scared too, but I really feel like we can figure this out and beat Caleb.”

Her hand slid down his forearm slowly until it fell into his own hand, he practically melted at the touch. He squeezed her hand and nodded.

“Yeah, so do I,” he agreed.

Within him, he could feel energy rushing through, trying to find somewhere to go, some way to show off. They stood in a garden, with bushes full of Dahlias waiting to be bloomed. A smile crossed his face as his eyes lit up, and as if on command one of the bushes bloomed with the flower right nearby. He was grinning ear to ear as he strode up to it, snatching one off. Spinning around, he laughed at Julie’s awe-struck reaction, realizing that _he_ had done that.

“If only we could fight Caleb with flowers,” he teased.

Julie brought the flower up to her nose, breathing in its smell. Her cheeks brightened with a faint blush, and they laughed, both unsure of what to think. The moment was definitely not helping him fight off any feelings he might have had for her, that was for sure.

Then, because of course their moment couldn’t be that perfect, Luke caught the sight of an older man standing nearby. For a split-second Luke could have sworn he saw the man _watching_ them. He was in his sixties maybe, short grey hair, and was wearing what looked like a war uniform from World War II.

 _He’s a ghost,_ his instincts told him, though as soon as Luke laid eyes on him, he blinked and the man disappeared.

“You okay?” Julie asked.

Luke stared ahead in the clearing of the garden, where he was certain they were being watched, but when he confirmed no one was around him he thought for sure his overwhelmed mind was playing tricks on him. 

He shook his head.

“Yeah totally,” he lied.

For good measure, he remembered the last thing he thought before he had teleported them the first time.

_Please let me protect her._

He held on her hand, practically feeling the energy transfer between them, he could feel power draining from him and instant felt weaker.

But he could fight that.

For her.

He had to.

Alex blinked rapidly, trying to push past the fiery pain resulting from Caleb’s latest jolts. Earlier, Willie had started talking him through the sequels to all of his favorite childhood films when he had felt the familiar, horrifying tug on the back of his neck and was transported straight into another round of fighting with Caleb.

And the magician was being _relentless_.

“What do you want from me?!” Alex groaned, attempting to roll over before he was hit with another jolt.

These weren’t like the jolts when they had the purple stamp. These were jolts from a red-orange glow of energy that shot straight out of the palm of Caleb’s hand, at lightning speed, and the instant it hit his body electric shocks rocked him.

He really was not understanding what was wrong with just leaving him in a dark room to rot.

“I want you to fight,” Caleb hissed, throwing his hand forward again.

A hot, hard pain hit his arm this time and it felt like his bones might have split in two, and he screamed. He really tried to not react, by now most of the pain was almost numbing, but this…this was unnatural. Closing his eyes tight, he tried his best to block out the pain, trying to focus instead on the energy rushing through him, begging him to be released, to fight. At last, he threw his hand out, startled when he managed to send a red-orange jolt straight at Caleb…only the phantom caught it with ease and shot his hand forward, sending him right back, hitting Alex in the shoulder.

It felt like he was on fire, and he had to bite back another scream.

And Caleb just laughed.

“Okay,” Alex breathed, almost too weak to even speak, “that’s _it_.”

He shot his hand forward again, channeling the anger boiling within him, and somehow managed to send Caleb flying, crashing to the ground far from him. He wanted to run but he knew it was useless, opting instead to roll onto his back, forcing himself to stop for a moment.

Caleb teleported beside him in an instant, not phased at all by the attack. He held out a hand, like Alex would actually let him help him up, and he ignored it as he forced himself up.

“Why are you doing this to me?” He croaked out. It felt like his lungs were collapsing as he spoke, and he couldn’t wrap his mind around how he was able to feel this much pain.

The magician only smirked.

“Because it’s _fun_. I never meet other ghosts with this much power to play around with,” he said it so casually, as though Caleb might as well have been a lonely child who finally had a new friend. “And I need you to realize the full strength of your powers.”

Alex let out a rough bark of laughter, trying to not wrap his mind around that idea. Caleb snapped his fingers and Alex flinched, his chest clinching in preparation for more pain, but only a bottle of water appeared in his hands. He handed it to the drummer, who was trying desperately to ignore how tight and dry his throat was; his body was pleading for water that it didn’t actually need.

“Go ahead,” Caleb urged, “I won’t think you’re weak or anything, you’ve made that clear enough already.”

Alex snatched the bottle from him, glaring, but didn’t say anything as he quickly downed it, nearly able to drink the whole thing in one swig. And it _helped_.

This room made no sense.

He relished in the gentle, cool flow of the liquid against his beaten insides, feeling like it could almost extinguish the fiery pain that buzzed inside him. Caleb simply patted him on the back after he drank it all, and he tensed under the touch.

“Come on,” Caleb instructed, jumping to his feet and snapping his fingers so that Alex was forced to do the same. There was almost the slightest bit of sympathy in his voice, and he was sure he imagined it, but it was almost like there was a lighter glow to his eye, not the sinster possessed look he usually had. “Let’s go again.”

 _Concentrate,_ he told himself.

As he stared ahead, watching as Caleb readied himself on the other side of the room, he realized he could practically sense the magical energy that was about to be hurled at him. He focused on that feeling, trying to harness it, and as soon as the jolt left Caleb’s fingertips he held up his hand, easily catching the white glow of energy and throwing it back, with enough force that Caleb ducked out of the way.

The magician grinned.

“See, now you’re catching on.”

Alex stared at him, trying to figure out how he made that happened…and how he could do it again. And why Caleb was even giving him the chance of stopping him.

“Why can't you just take it all?”

“Do you really want me to?” Caleb challenged.

Deep down, he wanted to scream yes, if it meant stopping the pain. If it meant he could just rot in the dark room and be free of Caleb’s game, free of anticipating the fear of being summoned to another one of these torture sessions. But he could hear Luke pleading with him, telling him _you’re stronger than that, you’ve got this_. Realistically he knew, if whatever power was stored inside his soul was strong enough for Caleb to be this threatened, it wasn’t any kind of power that needed to be added to what the phantom could already do.

“No.”

There was an odd glimmer in Caleb’s eyes, and he could have sworn the phantom _winked_ at him.

When Alex was finally freed and thrown back into the dark room he crashed into the wall, falling unceremoniously into Willie’s lap. The skater’s eyes went wide with panic as they found Alex, who was practically curled in half in pain. As painful fighting was as a human, as painful as dying was, he was certain that nothing could match the pain from magic.

“Hey,” Willie called to him softly, attempting to prop him up so that Alex could lean against him. “Hey hey hey…I’ve got you, it’s okay. It’s over.”

It wasn’t over, though. This was his _eternity_.

He could only shake his head, trying to focus on anything else but that fact that it felt like his wrist was broken in two, all of his ribs had been cracked and like he had been burned with a thousand cigarettes. In any other scenario he would have forced his senses to distract from the pain, but there were no senses in the dark room. Just emptiness.

And the hand, rubbing gently over his hurt wrist. He realized in horror that it was bruised black-blue and twisted, like it really was broken.

“I’m okay,” he breathed, though his entire body shook even as he lied. “It’s just-“

“Do not say psychological,” Willie warned. “This is so, _so_ wrong.”

The worst part was that Alex couldn’t even be sure that it was _just_ psychological anymore. It was like it wasn’t even just that he had died, he had died and was now this magical…thing, and all of the energy, all of the pain inside him was real. Maybe blood didn’t rush through his veins anymore, but whatever he was now, it absolutely felt real. And it felt so far from who he was, at his core, that it was starting to scare him.

“It was different this time,” Alex admitted, trying to sort through his thoughts, “it was like he _wanted_ me to fight him. He was weaker, when I first saw him. I can’t tell if the more he hurts me the stronger he becomes or if he wants me to be able to fight.”

Willie gave him a funny look, and he had to wonder if maybe he had finally lost his mind.

“Why would he want that?”

“Before, his eyes were different. It was like he was possessed. He said that having all four of our souls was ‘bosses’ orders’. Who would be in charge of Caleb?”

While horror danced in Willie’s eyes at that thought, he did him the decency of not speculating and adding substance to his theories. Even as curiosity nagged at him, those horrid possibilities really weren’t something he could stomach to think about right now.

Alex shuddered suddenly as a cold trimmer of pain swept through him, almost like aftershocks. He instinctively scooted closer to the other phantom, secretly grateful when an arm was snaked around his back to hold him close, bringing instant warmth to the cold pain.

“You know, I was thinking,” Willie mused, “this whole thing has been about you and your band, and I’ve never heard you sing _once_.”

Alex could have sworn he felt a blush blossoming on his cheeks.

“I’m a drummer, I really don’t sing.”

“That’s a lie and you know it,” Willie shot playfully, throwing him smile. “I was thinking about how music brings you guys so much energy as ghosts, I mean it’s literally what brought you back. I thought maybe it would make you feel better to sing. It might help keep you grounded to your soul. It’s like how I felt when I was under Caleb’s control but I still got to skate or hang out with you. It keeps you tethered to your soul enough just to keep you hanging on.”

Okay, that did make sense. If only he didn’t feel so empty, so disconnected from the musician he had been for so long. He was also worried that singing without the guys would feel wrong; it would be too painful.

“Sing something for me,” Willie pleaded, his eyes twinkling, “I promise you’ll feel better. You’re a Bowie fan, right? I want to hear your best Bowie cover.”

Alex couldn’t help but to smile a little as he was hit with a memory of jumping around the studio with the guys, singing their hearts out to _Ziggy Stardust_. Even that fleeting memory of being back there, alive, with his friends, ignited a fluttery feeling in his chest.

Maybe Willie was right.

Learning his head back against the wall, he let out a long sigh, trying to come up with something that he felt like singing. Then he realized the perfect song and he gave in, breathing the lyrics out like everything he was feeling might leave with them:

_We passed upon the stair  
We spoke of was and when  
Although I wasn't there  
He said I was his friend  
Which came as a surprise  
I spoke into his eyes  
I thought you died alone  
A long long time ago  
  
Oh no, not me  
We never lost control  
You're face to face  
With the man who sold the world_

The words suddenly became caught in his throat, and he broke down. He was right- singing only reminded him of being on stage with the guys and Julie, and just thinking of their energy, of their smiles as they belted out and shared mics, was too much to bare when he had no idea where they were, if they were safe, knowing how scared they must be. And it was all because of him. He sold out, and he ruined everything for them.

“I thought I was supposed to feel better,” he mumbled, burying his head into Willie’s shoulder.

Willie rubbed a gentle hand in circles on his back as he admitted:

“Well I thought you’d go with like ‘Starman’ or something. You’re a really good singer, you know, you shouldn’t hide your voice.”

Alex was afraid to admit how much it hurt that instead of making him feel stronger or happier, music only brought out sadness. Lifting his head up, he was desperate to recover.

“Okay, it’s your turn,” Alex announced. “Maybe it will feel better hearing music come from someone who, you know, actually owns their soul.”

“Yeah, I really don’t…”

“ _Come on._ I heard how clearly you shouted in that museum. There were some serious pipes behind that voice!”

Beside him, the skater wrestled with his thoughts, half smiling, half looking a little mortified; he couldn’t be sure if Willie had ever sung in front of anyone ever.

“Fine, but you’re not allowed to judge,” Willie finally agreed.

“I won’t make fun,” he promised.

At last Willie turned so they could face each other, Alex reached out to hold onto his hand, and the phantom looked him right in the eye as he started to sing, of all things, “Redemption Song.”

And he was _good_.

His voice was so clear and strong, so soothing, even as he looked slightly shaken to be singing directly to him, this intimately, and Alex realized right away that he had picked the song out just for him. Because he truly, hadn’t believed that he deserved anyone’s sympathy or even the possibility of redemption. Somehow, the way Willie sang, so pure and desperate for him to just _listen_ , it made him feel like maybe he should finally give himself some grace.

He really wanted to be okay.

He wanted to survive this, to get more moments like this with Willie.

_Won't you help to sing  
These songs of freedom?  
'Cause all I ever have  
Redemption songs_

Their foreheads touched as Willie sang out the chorus one last time, and at last instead of pain all Alex could feel were phantom goosebumps and a twisting feeling where his heart should be, aching, begging to be closer, to feel. He shuddered as Willie’s free hand came up to his shoulder, slipped around his neck and he let his fingers dance there, brushing against his skin.

Not daring to waste another second, Alex carefully tilted his head, leaning forward just enough so that their lips could finally brush together.

The kiss was slow, simple. They hovered like that for a moment after the first connection, eyes still locked together, before surging forward, allowing the kiss to continue.

He felt so alive that he could have cried. Happy tears.

Passion danced under his skin and he was bustling with energy, not to hurt or to fight but to _feel_. He smiled against Willie’s lips, feeling the tingle of the kiss, concentrating on the daring emotion that gave him the confidence to hang on, to deepen. Slyly, Willie’s tongue slipped through his lips, scraping his top teeth, leaving him absolutely trembling, for a split moment, then his lips were on his again, soft and passionate. Careful.

They broke a part smiling, and without the usual need for air nagging him after a kiss like that Alex could only feel elated. 

He felt like himself again.

“Feeling stronger?” Willie teased quietly, their lips still barely brushing against each other, his finger stroking softly over Alex's bruised cheek.

His whole body was buzzing with excitement, with warmth, with relief and a desire that he didn’t think was still possible, given his status as a soulless ghost. 

Alex drank it all in, knowing the truth now.

Caleb didn’t own anything. He had a hold on him, he might have him cursed.

But his soul was still there, and it was fighting for a way out. He could still find a way out of this, and there was enough of _him_ left inside to make the fight worth it. Especially with Willie by his side.

 _“_ Oh yeah.”

And Alex didn’t hesitate to lean in for seconds, closing the space between them and capturing Willie into a bruising kiss. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told ya I love those two! And of course I had to give Alex some hope! :) 
> 
> Also, shout out to everyone else who was raised by Beatles fanatic parents and the first thing you did when you went to NYC for the first time was go to the Dakota and Strawberry Fields because it's like a family obligation. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, for all your comments and kudos. You guys seriously brighten my day! This has been a lot of fun to write, such a great break from the world, so I hope you're enjoying it! Would love to know how you liked the Willex kiss! And the Juke! :)


	9. Flynn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you think I forgot Flynn? ;)

Flynn couldn’t help but to acknowledge the creeping sensation that _something is wrong_ as she approached the Molina’s studio garage that Sunday morning. It was a feeling she had become familiar with, ever since her best friend had gotten involved with ghosts. When Julie tried to explain about the guys and this Caleb person and curses and crossing over, Flynn could only offer a sympathetic smile and hugs, promising her that it would be okay, that if they needed to be let go it was the right thing to do. She didn’t want to admit the small twinge of jealousy she felt because these three, dead, guys Julie had just met a few weeks ago had this much of a connection with her, when they had been friends all their lives. But none of this was about her, she constantly tried to remind herself, and when the guys did cross over and Julie would have to go through the pain of losing people close to her again, Flynn would without a doubt be there to help pick her up again.

But Julie didn’t answer any of her texts- not to mention had not even posted her socials after her epic gig at the Orpheum, and now that no one was answering at the Molina’s she officially had a really, really bad feeling about this.

“Girl, you better not be ghosting me,” she muttered as she fought with the key to unlock the studio door with the spare key she had been given by Julie “just for emergencies”. And wasn’t this an emergency?

Throwing them open, her heart sank to find a totally empty studio. The equipment was all still there, she noted the guitar Luke had used at the Orpheum hanging on the wall and Reggie’s bass carefully resting on a stand.

“Anyone home?” Flynn called to the empty room. Her eyes danced up to the loft, where the boys’ stuff was stashed. A shiver went down her spin; it always did creep her out that all this time, the instruments, clothes, and music books belonging to three, dead, teenaged musicians had been up there. “Anyone? Spooks included?”

“Oh, just me.”

Her heart practically leapt out of her chest at the unfamiliar voice. A cold sweat swept over her as Flynn slowly turned around, coming face to face with a man she had never seen before leaning against the piano. He wore a black suit and a top hat and somehow, it hit her instantly who she was facing.

 _“Caleb,”_ she shot under her breath, crossing her arms. To the phantom’s credit, he looked a little impressed that she knew who he was. “What have you done with Julie and the band?”

The ghost eyed her coldly as he explained:

“Your little phantom friends agreed to join me, and then when they realized how high the stakes were, they decided they could just _break away_. Now they’re making me hunt them down, the hard way. Alex gave me his soul so that I wouldn’t destroy his ghost crush. Isn’t that sweet? Luke is in hiding somewhere with Ms. Molina."

Her body suddenly felt like it was running too hot, and Flynn wasn’t exactly sure how she should be reacting. She was terrified for Julie, if she really was out on the run with Luke. She had to figure out some way to warn Reggie, and her heart sank at the thought of the drummer, the super sweet blonde with the kind smile and soft heart, having his soul held captive by this _creature_.

And, admittedly, she felt just slightly hurt that she hadn’t been clued in on any of this.

“You didn’t know any of this, did you?” Caleb mused. “Well, perhaps I misjudged the importance of using you against them.”

Flynn tensed, her heart racing as the desire to _run for her life_ flooded her.

The phantom gracefully uncrossed his legs, hopping off the piano, and as he strode toward Flynn, who took a few subconscious steps back toward the studio door. But with a snap of Caleb’s fingers, it was like she physically could not move at all. Her eyes went wide with panic, and pure evil flashed in the phantom’s eyes as his smirk faded.

He stood only inches from her.

She couldn’t talk, she couldn’t even flinch.

“That leaves us with Reginald. I want you to give our little bassist a message,” Caleb stated darkly, his voice lower than before. Her heart twisted as she thought of the bassist, who just seemed like the happiest-go-lucky person, always a bright smile on his face…now somewhere on the run from this creep, too. “I want you can tell him he can run for as long as he’d like. I don't mind playing the long game and, in fact, I'm curious to know what he has in him...how much he can take."

Confusion crossed her face, but she couldn’t react as he simply snapped his fingers again…

…and the entire studio exploded.

Pictures flew off the wall, glass clattered to the floor, and Flynn went sailing, not even able to scream as she wordlessly dropped like a dead weight.

It must have been almost six in the morning when Reggie finally got some rest. Ray had shuffled off into a guest room, looking positively defeated as he wordlessly closed the door behind him. Reggie stayed in the living, on the sofa, while Trevor sank into one of the chairs with a mug of tea in his hands. They sat like that for an hour, not talking, maybe waiting for the other to say something, but neither could find the right words. Truthfully, he was still leery of letting himself sleep, dreading the nightmares that were sure to come, but at some point, his body must have given in.

He woke up to the sun beaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows lining the living room and a feeling of anxiety gripping him. This time it wasn’t any particular nightmare of a memory but a feeling of being trapped in total darkness, like a curtain had fallen over him as the echoes of his parents shouting danced around him. Then at some point, he could have sworn he heard Alex singing along with Bowie, and he woke up to a pang of sadness as he thought of him and the guys singing their hearts out to many a Bowie record back in the day.

He really wasn’t sure what was worse, whatever that dream was or the feeling of reliving old bad memories.

As Reggie blinked, letting the events of the night come back to him and remembering where he was, he slowly sat up to find that Trevor was still up. A different tea mug was in his hands; he was still in his pajamas and robe.

“This is dejavu,” the rocker commented before taking a sip of tea. “You, coming to my house in the middle of the night and crashing on my sofa.”

“Except now we’ve moved up,” Reggie teased, “from your garage to your mansion. Teenage you would be impressed.”

Trevor stiffened, and Reggie immediately regretted the comment. He knew deep down that Bobby would have been mortified at the man he’d grow up to be. Reggie wasn’t sure he could ever convince teenaged Bobby that he would one day be the only survivor of their deaths, become an alcoholic drug abuser, betray them all and sell his own soul.

“I don’t think so,” Trevor muttered. Clearing his throat, he got to his feet as he explained: “Carrie is supposed to be home pretty soon, and I don’t want her to be involved in any of this, Ray and I agreed you guys should go.”

Somehow it hadn’t hit him that of course Carrie had obviously not known who they were when she had seen them perform with Julie. Meaning that Trevor had not even so much as told his own daughter about the band, and that realization hurt.

“It was…well, it was _weird_ seeing you again,” Trevor said, “and I’m sorry that you guys are in trouble, but I can’t help you anymore.”

He wanted to point out that Trevor obviously very much didn’t _want_ to help them. Trevor scratched where the old mark was still deeply engraved in his skin, and Reggie knew if it was his daughter, he’d want to make sure they remained as not a part of this as possible too.

“It’s okay,” Reggie said anyway, “and it was _weird_ seeing you again too. Sorry that we scared the living daylights out of you that one day.”

“You’re not really sorry about that,” Trevor mumbled.

Reggie smirked.

“Nope. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” Nevertheless, he offered his old friend a reassuring smile. “But we’ll lay off of you, promise.”

An awkward silence fell between them as neither knew what to do or say until Ray was ready to leave. Reggie’s eyes trailed around the room, but he really didn’t want to focus on being in a room that was dedicated to their old music in Trevor’s name. Or the creepy ass giant painting of Trevor himself. Was that _really_ necessary, in his own house? But there was something Reggie had noticed. There was no picture of Trevor and any spouse, current or former, anywhere to be seen. There was only one small collection of photos of Carrie, and none of them had both her and her father in them.

“So, I’ve gotta know…who’s Carrie’s mother?”

“I adopted Carrie when she was born.”

Reggie was stunned, he had to admit. While teenaged Bobby had plenty of girlfriend, he never once remembered his old friend mentioning getting married or ever having kids.

“Wow,” was all he managed to say. “How old were you?”

“Twenty-six,” Trevor replied with a casual shrug, as though it was normal for all single, twenty-six-year-old guys to adopt newborns on their own. “It was after I cleaned up, and I felt pretty empty, you know? Honestly, I felt like I needed to do _more_ with my life. Plus, Rose was pregnant with Julie, and it just made me feel a lot of things.”

He knew Trevor meant _left out_ , and that was definitely more of a Bobby thing to do: adopt a kid to be able to join in on your friends’ parenting adventures.

“What’s it like having a teenager?” Reggie asked.

It could not be any more surreal that here he stood, still seventeen physically, and his surviving bandmate was raising a daughter just a year younger than him.

“It’s terrifying.”

The voice that answered was Ray’s, and the two turned to him, sympathetically, as he appeared at the bottom of the stairs, car keys in hand. Bags under his eyes gave away that he must not have gotten any sleep at all last night, and Reggie felt guilty that he was the dead guy and he had gotten more sleep than either of them. Well, sleep, maybe. He didn’t exactly feel rested.

“Julie’s still not answering,” Ray sighed as he approached them, hovering by Reggie. “It’s already eleven, New York time.”

“She had a long night,” Reggie said, “maybe they’re just sleeping in somewhere.”

He regretted saying that as soon as he did, because obviously the realization that his daughter and a teenage boy would be staying somewhere alone and sleeping in hit him. 

“Maybe I can try teleporting you home?” Reggie offered, noting how glazed over Ray's eyes looked, how he swayed ever so slightly on his feet from being beyond exhausted. "I'm dead and even I don't feel safe driving with you right now."

“Yeah, maybe so.”

The poor guy just sounded so _drained._

The three stood there, not really sure how to say goodbye or where this left them. To keep it simple, Reggie simply stuck out his hand, giving Trevor a solemn nod as Ray took it, letting him transport them both back to the Molina house.

When they appeared in the driveway, they stood silently, each quietly wondering _what now_? Where exactly were they supposed to go from here? They had no plan, whatsoever, and it couldn't have been more of an unnerving feeling. 

Then Ray frowned, looking over Reggie’s shoulder.

“The studio is open,” Ray said, lowering his voice. Their eyes darted around to see if anyone else was there, but there were no cars or other people.

Cautiously, they crept down the drive to the opened studio doors, and Reggie’s non-beating heart dropped when they discovered what happened.

The studio was in total disarray.

It looked like a bomb had gone off.

Ray faltered, and Reggie reached out for him, holding him steady as they dared to move forward, silently.

Thank god the area around the piano and the piano itself looked mostly spared, though the window behind it was shattered now over the base of the piano and floor. Pictures had clattered to the ground, all of the furniture was now fallen and tossed about.

 _My bass!_ He thought miserably, but didn’t have the heart for that to be his focus knowing the horror Ray was feeling right now. His eyes flashed around, relief flooding through him when he noticed their instruments safely hanging where they had been before. Even Alex’s drum set looked untouched, like everything had fallen around it…almost like their instruments had protected themselves. 

And a horrific realization settled in as he realized who was responsible for this.

Caleb.

“Flynn!”

Reggie startled at Ray’s sudden cry, but he didn’t hesitate to follow as Ray raced through the studio, ignoring the broken glass crunching beneath his shoes. Sure enough there was the body of Julie’s best friend, laying crumbled on the ground amongst the rubble. A fiery rage rushed through him, and god he wished Caleb had stuck around because he could feel energy coursing through him, ready to fight. He knew without a doubt it was his powers, ready to unleash themselves onto the phantom.

“Flynn!” Ray called again as he carefully knelt to the ground and brushed his hand over the teen’s face.

His own face was plastered with worry and shock. They had just been through so much already, and he knew Julie’s wrath when she found out her best friend had now been attacked would not be something he’d want to witness. At the same time, he knew Flynn and the Molinas were close, and the pain etched in Ray’s eyes at the site of her injured, in his own, fallen studio- his wife’s studio… _their_ studio, their _home_. Reggie knelt down beside him, not feeling the glass as it crunched under his knee.

“Flynn, can you hear me?” Ray called gently.

 _Please see me,_ Reggie begged silently, _let me help._

The phantom brushed a gentle hand over her forehead, letting his other rest behind her head so it wouldn’t rest in glass. At last, the teen’s eyes fluttered open, immediately widening with horror when they found Reggie, but no Julie. 

“Oh god… _I’m dead_ ,” she breathed, her voice hoarse and chest rising too quickly with panic.

It hurt she immediately assumed if she saw he was there that she had died too, but he shook it off and offered her a kind smile instead.

“Not this time,” he replied, “Ray’s here.”

Ray nodded, confirming he could see the phantom too.

“Flynn,” Ray spoke up, swallowing nervously. He looked like he might pass out from shock; he placed a hand on Reggie’s shoulder, needing to steady himself. “What happened?”

Flynn’s eyes stayed connected with Reggie’s, hardening with a coldness he hadn’t yet ever seen with them, and he knew his suspicions were correct before she said it:

“Caleb.”

Beside him, Ray stilled, his eye glazed over like ice. Flynn looked between them, her chest heaving, hand pressed against her forehead, trying to fight back the pain.

“Someone better start telling me what the hell is going on, _right now_.”

The two had managed to help her get her to the bathroom in the back of the studio, then Ray went to check on the rest of the house and get some ice. The phantom was reluctant to leave him alone, in case Caleb was lurking somewhere inside the Molina house, but he was even more afraid to leave Flynn alone. She was holding up pretty well, all things considered; maybe the adrenaline was settling in but she stayed calm, at least long enough for Ray to leave.

Once he did, he began again to tell their story, feeling like he had it down pretty good by now. While hadn’t known Flynn for long, he knew enough about her to know she was usually pretty full on with the dramatics and didn’t hesitate to let everyone know just how she was feeling. So when she stayed completely silent, letting him speak as he leaned back against the porcelain sink and she sat on the toilet, he knew it was bad.

“Did he say anything to you?” Reggie finally asked after a long moment of Flynn just glaring at the floor.

“Yeah,” she finally looked up at him, breathing heavy as she admitted: “he said that your number's up…you can play this game for as long as you want, as long as it takes. He wants to know what you've got."

A chill went down his spine at the word of Caleb's threat and he gulped, trying to push back nerves as he could practically hear Caleb's sneering in his head: _you're next_.

"Then he just snapped his fingers and the studio exploded," Flynn continued. "There was no bomb or anything.”

“Magic,” he mumbled.

He was really beginning to hate that word.

Flynn’s eyes were wide, but she was in too much shock to comprehend what he meant. Reggie stared at her, trying to figure it out. She was really not hurt that badly, she fell with her head against her arms instead of the floor and it was almost like everything had purposefully crumbled around her, sparing her.

Then he considered her wording ‘with a snap of the fingers’.

If Caleb was able to make everything crash with just a snap…then was there was a way to reverse that?

Curiosity got the better of him, and he slipped out of the bathroom without explanation. In the doorway his eyes examined the aftermath. He focused in on the fury itching beneath his skin; he could practically still feel blood boiling. But more than anything he wanted to skip over revenge and just _help_.

Drawing in a deep breath, Reggie closed his eyes, carefully raised a hand and snapped his fingers.

…nothing happened.

“And what did you think would happen?” Flynn asked, appearing beside him.

He opened his eyes and kicked at the ground in frustration. Something inside him was just eating at him, telling him that he could do this. He wasn’t sure where the confidence was coming from, but it was like an earworm playing over and over again in his head, _find a way_.

“We have ghost powers,” he explained, ignoring her when she opened her mouth, confused and ready to ask a million questions.

He started flailing his arms about, trying anything that he thought might piece things back together.

“Wow, you are really not good at this,” Flynn commented, bemused.

But he was _supposed to be._ It was basically a challenge from Caleb, wasn’t it? Let me destroy this and see if you can fix it. This place is your home, if you love it enough you should be able to fix it. Let me start to threaten everything and everyone around you and see how you push back.

Letting out a long breath, he forced himself to calm himself down _completely_. He held up a hand to Flynn to shush her and blocked out everything but the growing desire in him to just make this okay.

 _You’ve got this, Reg,_ he could hear Luke’s voice whisper.

Eyes wide open now, he waved his left hand, his dominant hand, the hand that effortlessly knew its way around the neck of his bass, waved it in a single swooping motion, left to right.

The room began to vibrate, like an earthquake Flynn looked like she wanted to reach for him but gratefully didn’t break his concentration, gripping the doorframe instead.

Then slowly, the glass in the room started to lift from the floor. Pieces of broken window and picture frames started to fly back into place. The furniture rose up gracefully, latching back into place on the ceiling. Even the pillows rose themselves to fix snuggly back onto the sofa.

Just like that it felt like all the energy had rushed out of him, like air bursting out through a pipe, and he stumbled back. Flynn caught him, letting out an incredulous laugh. Even Reggie could only stare, wondering if he was still ghost-dreaming. As his eyes swept across the room, making sure everything was for real back in place, a smile finally crept at his lips, and they both broke out into laughter. She held him tight, half embracing him and half clinging to him for dear life, maybe because of how impressed she was or maybe because he looked like he could possibly pass out. Reggie found himself grinning against her shoulder.

“The house is clear, but Flynn, I really think I should take you to the emergency room and call your dad,” Ray suddenly announced, having returned to the studio.

He stopped short, noticing the studio was completely back to normal. His jaw fell open, he was blinking rapidly, trying to figure it out until they finally found Reggie and Flynn on the floor, her hand, rested on his chest, their eyes both still lit up in disbelief.

“What did I miss?”

“I see you’ve officially met the band,” Flynn laughed as she and Reggie peeled apart.

He ran a shaking hand through his hair, trying to process what just happened, but all he had the energy to do was to allow himself fall to the now glass-free floor to rest. As he lay flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling of the only place he could ever call home, he beamed with pride and relief. Maybe he wasn’t so bad at this magic thing after all.

After Ray tended to Flynn to make sure she didn’t have any obvious concussion symptoms, she and Reggie sat cross-legged on the sofa, her cell phone sitting on the cushion between them. He made her promise to let him tell her everything before calling Julie and rounding on her. Flynn was uncharacteristically quiet as he spoke, every now and then reaching up to her head, quickly pulling her hand back every time he noticed and he knew it was a signal that it hurt more than she was letting on.

“So…how exactly can I see you right now?” She asked, carefully poking at his shoulder. “And _feel_ you?”

Reggie just shrugged; he was surprised it even needed to be asked after all they had witnessed today.

“It just happened, after we broke the curse, after we played the Orpheum,” he explained. “We became tangible, and we could touch Julie. Then the next night, when everything went down with Alex, Ray just all of a sudden could see me. Oh, and Julie can make Luke and Alex visible but she has to touch them to do it. I don’t have any idea why I’m different.”

At that a sly smile crossed over Flynn’s lips, like she was already planning what all they could do now that she could theoretically always see her best friend’s ghost friends.

“And you said Luke teleported here where now?”

He swallowed nervously; he had purposefully left that part in the end in hopes that she would forget he hadn’t mentioned anything.

“To…New York City.”

Her only reaction was to immediately grab her phone. Reggie tried to reach for her it first-

“Don’t you dare, ghost boy,” she warned, waving an accusing finger at him as she called Julie.

He couldn’t help but to smirk at the term “ghost boy”. He also couldn’t help but to be monumentally jealous that Julie had such a _cool_ best friend. Granted, he wouldn’t trade his two for the world, but Flynn was just _clever_. There was something about her being around that made him feel comforted, when he knew it should be the other way around. Flynn really didn’t have any reason to keep herself involved in this, in fact he really should be trying to convince her to run, to stay away from all things ghosts, that they got this and would be able to protect Julie. But it was obvious that she wasn’t going anywhere…and he didn’t exactly mind.

Julie’s heart was racing as she watched the tiny flames dance on top of the palm of Luke’s hand, not burning him, not even smelling like fire. His eyes were blown wide in shock, a lopsided grin on his face as she laughed, impressed.

“Maybe I can just burn the whole Ghost Club down,” Luke mumbled (totally unbeknownst that Alex had already tried that).

As the fire grew, he tried closing his palm to put it out, but instead he yelped and on instinct, threw his hand out. The flames hit the ground, and the two teenagers scrambled, panicking.

“Crap that _burned_!” Luke whined as he thought quickly, holding his thumb to his mouth like he had a paper cut. “How…”

“Try to make it rain or something!” She exclaimed after looking around for any source of water and coming up sort. 

She wasn’t sure if she had ever sounded so ridiculous. _Thank god_ no one could see them.

“Right…”

To his credit, Luke’s concentration was getting better. He seemed to understand that to make all of this energy do anything productive he had to remain completely zoned in. It was just trying to figure out what he was supposed to do with his hands that was the problem. First, he tried gently raising his hands toward the sky, and when that didn’t work, his fingers just danced lazily in the air, like he was signing to someone that it was raining. Julie had to try really, _really_ hard not to laugh, because any time she did, he lost it too; she bit back a giggle.

“Stop,” he warned, though he was trying to not laugh himself.

And suddenly, it started to snow.

Their corner of the park, where they sat amongst the now blooming dahlia bushes, was mostly empty but of course right then someone ran through and stopped, absolutely noting the snow. They both finally lost it, bursting out laughing, Julie grabbing for him, trying to stop him from doing anything else insane. As soon as she touched him, the snow turned to rain. The runner nearby them blinked, shook their head, convinced they were seeing things, and kept running.

On instinct, he snapped his fingers, which so far seemed to be the best way to reverse any magic that was done wrong, and sure enough a rainbow bloomed in the sky and the sun shone brightly once again.

“ _What_ was that?” Julie laughed, her arms still wrapped around him as the flames were washed away.

“I have no idea…”

 _He’s amazing,_ her mind sang.

His wide eyes were bright, bustling with energy even though he was using more magic than ever. Even so his chest heaved, like he was still mentally taxed, and he knew he was secretly ready for a break.

“Just give me a minute,” he announced, in total awe of himself still. “Seriously, Julie, what’s happening to me?”

It sounded rhetorical; at this point neither of them could even begin to figure out what was happening or how they triggered it. She was anxious to know if either of the other guys had been able to do anything similar, and as if on cue, her phone rang for the first time since she tried to reach her father earlier that morning.

Her heart stopped when she saw who was calling.

“It’s Flynn,” she sighed.

She knew if she let the phone ring more than a couple of times that Flynn would get even more suspicious than she likely already was. Julie forced herself to smile, hoping it would help her sound convincing as she greeted:

“Hey Flynn!”

Getting to her feet, she started to pace, feeling too nervous to just sit.

“Hey Julie,” Flynn sounded just as fake nice as she did, and she had a horrible feeling her friend somehow already knew what was going on. “Did you forget about today?”

Julie blinked, trying to remember. Her mind had totally erased any life events or stress that weren’t ghost-related. She had realized right away that she would have to compartmentalize, if she was going to get through this, but she felt guilty and like a terrible friend when she genuinely couldn’t remember what plans she had with Flynn today.

“Brunch? Girl time?” Flynn reminded her.

“Oh my god…”

She had totally forgotten.

“Flynn, I’m so, so sorry. It’s really…it’s been a bad day.”

“I know,” Flynn replied curtly, “Caleb told me all about it.”

Julie froze. Luke had been watching her curiously but got to his feet when he saw how disturbed she was.

“Are you okay?” She asked, needing to know that first and foremost.

“Yeah, no thanks to your dad and Reggie.”

_Oh no._

She knew _everything_ , then.

“Flynn, what happened?”

“I came here looking for you, and he was here. He had this warning for Reggie- who I can see and touch now, by the way- and then he just…Jules…he made the studio explode. No bomb or anything. Just…with his mind.”

Her heart dropped, and she felt herself falling to the ground before Luke could catch her, lowering her down gently.

“What?” He demanded, his eyes darkened with fury, already sensing the bad news. _“What?_

She was hyperventilating. She was vaguely aware of Luke’s hands on her arms, trying to steady her, his eyes searching her for explanation.

All she could think of was… _mom’s studio_. All of her mom’s stuff, the piano…the guys’ home.

Breathing becoming more erratic, Julie closed her eyes, hating the world. How was she supposed to begin to tell Luke this?

“Julie…Jules, stop freaking out it’s okay!”

“How is this okay?!” She exclaimed, tears prickling at her eyes. Luke looked ready to punch someone in the face, and he didn’t even know what was going on yet.

“Reggie fixed it.”

Julie stopped, wondering how on earth Flynn couldn’t have just led with that.

“What do you mean ‘Reggie fixed it’?”

“Girl, he just like…snapped his fingers and the studio went back to normal. Glass and all. It’s totally fine! He was _amazing_.”

“It was hands down the coolest thing I have ever done!” She heard Reggie chime in in the background.

She still couldn’t get passed the shock of _studio destroyed_ ; all she wanted at that moment was to be back home, to check on her family and the studio and see for herself that everything was okay. Her stomach was in knots, and she felt so stupid thinking she and Luke could just hide out and play magic.

“Are you okay? Is my dad okay?”

“Yeah…yeah we’re fine, but this is a _lot,_ Julie.”

“I know…Flynn I’m so sorry. I promise I was going to tell you everything. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Flynn hesitated, and Julie had a feeling what her friend really wanted to do was chew her out a little bit more over this, but thankfully she seemed to sense it just wasn’t what she needed right now.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Promise. We’re just trying to figure out what to do now.”

“Yeah, us to,” Julie sighed.

She turned to Luke and offered him a small smile, to reassure him things were okay. Then she motioned that she was going to take a walk, wanting to fill her friend in on other things. Luke-related things. Thankfully the phantom seemed to understand, though he looked frustrated to be left out of the loop.

“Is my dad right there with you?” She asked.

“No. What’s up?”

Drawing in a deep breath, Julie did her best to avoid the fact that Luke was still _right there_ nearby. She wished so much that Flynn could be there, to help her through this, but at least they had connected.

“So, it’s not just that we’re in New York. Luke made me invisible.”

There was a long pause, and Julie bit her lip, anticipating the freak out that would follow.

“…that boy did what now?”

“He made me invisible, Flynn. He doesn’t even know how he did it! It’s like some sort of…protection spell.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah… _wow_.”

And she hated how much she was trying to avoid grinning like an idiot. She and Flynn had talked a boys a lot in the many years of their friendship, but this…this was next level times ten.

“You got to be careful,” Flynn finally warned. “You two are in invisible possibly the most romantic city in the country, and he is cursed with teenaged hormones for eternity. Even worse, he _knows_ how cute he is.”

“Yeah…”

“You’ve got this,” Flynn promised her. “I’m just glad to know he’s keeping you safe from Caleb. Has he…shown any other powers yet?”

As she stole a glance back to Luke, she noticed him waving his hand around, accomplishing…absolutely nothing at all, whatever he was trying to do. She bit her lip even as a smile tried to cross her face.

“Flynn he is trying, believe me. He did start a fire earlier! Which he tried to put it out with magical snow. And he made this Dahlia bush bloom on its own.”

“Oh, now come on, that’s adorable! Wait…” Julie realized Reggie was still talking in the background and she blushed, thankful that she hadn’t talked too much about her feelings for Luke. “Reggie wants to know if he can talk to Luke. Ghost to ghost. Do you think they’re able to talk over the phone?”

Okay, she smiled to herself, now _that_ was adorable.

“Let’s see, hang on.”

She strode back over to Luke and handed him the phone. Luke took it, staring at it, and she had to giggle, realizing he had never used a cell phone before.

“Reggie wants to talk to you,” she explained, “just…use it like a normal phone. Try to not hit any buttons.”

Luke took the phone hesitantly, he still couldn’t figure out what was going on, but he had to admit he was desperate for the chance to talk to Reggie and make sure things were okay at the Molina’s.

“Hey, Reg,” he greeted. “Is everything okay there?”

There was a heavy pause on the other end of the line, which told him everything he needed to know. One thing he had learned over the years about Reggie, if he wasn’t talking, things weren’t okay. Unfortunately, he hadn’t acted on his instincts about that enough in the past.

“Yeah, everything is fine… _now_ …I just wanted to fill you in…”

As the phantom paced, he gave Reggie space to let it all out, listening to his tale of how Rose was Julie’s mom and she and Trevor stayed friends, Trevor met Caleb and had made a deal with him. He was pacing harder than he meant, reminding himself of Alex, and his non-beating heart ached.

“Oh my god,” he finally breathed when his friend was done. “Reggie…”

“Yeah.”

Above everything, Luke felt guilty that Reggie had to face meeting Trevor in person for the first time since their death alone. And he felt guilty, knowing that their deaths left Bobby vulnerable to drugs, alcoholism and _Caleb_.

Suddenly he felt very naïve for just taking off with Julie and thinking they could just quietly hide away. Now Caleb was after Reggie with full force, and Ray and Flynn were directly involved.

“I’ve got to find a way to get us back,” he mumbled.

“Luke, you can’t, we’re fine here. Caleb’s just trying to scare me.” But Reggie _sounded_ scared. That was the problem. Luke didn’t want to hide anymore. He wanted this to be done with, he wanted to be able to protect his friends. “Wait, what do you mean ‘find a way’ to come back?”

Luke closed his eyes; he had really hoped no one would find out about this part until he could figure out why his teleporting was still acting up. He still hadn’t been able to go more than a couple of miles in the city.

“We’re kind of…stuck here. I still can’t believe I even got us here, but I haven’t been able to teleport more than a couple of miles.”

_“You’re stuck?!”_

The guitarist lout out a long breath. The last thing he had wanted to do was cause anyone else anymore stress, and he knew exactly that’s what he was doing.

“Yeah, but _please_ don’t tell Ray. We’re totally safe. I kind of made Julie invisible,” he explained, “and no, I don’t know how, but it’s like I’m able to protect her from Caleb. I don’t know if I’m just using up all my energy or what, but we’ve been pretty…stuck. We’re just hanging out in Central Park, trying to figure out this whole magic thing.”

“Wow…”

“Yup.”

There was a long pause, and if things were ideal, he could have kept Reggie on the phone for hours, asking him about what exactly he was supposed to be _doing_ here with Julie. Not only did he not have a clue what he was doing with his magic, nor did he have a clue what he would do if Caleb found them, the longer he was around Julie the more he realized how deeply he felt for her. Being around Julie was like relief from the world. She could make his soul instantly feel lighter. _He_ felt safe around her, even though it should only be the other way around. And he really, really liked how she made him feel.

It was terrifying, on a different level than being on the run from the devil terrifying.

“I wonder if I can do a protection spell here,” Reggie thought out loud. “Ray and I are kind of partners in crime now, by the way. He’s a total bad ass. I basically had to stop him from punching Trevor’s brains out.”

Luke blinked. He was pretty sure Reggie was leaving out at least half the story there.

But he did have to smile knowing that Reggie was finally getting to live out his ghost dream of getting to hang out with Ray. Now that he knew the truth about how bad things were with Reggie’s father, it made sense that he was excited to have an actual father-figure to be around.

“That’s awesome, Reg,” Luke replied. He hesitated, knowing there was one other thing that he wanted fill Reggie in on, knowing it would feel nice to get it off his chest. He glanced behind him, seeing that Julie was still lagging behind, giving him his space. “Hey, so…I kind of told Julie about me and Alex.”

There was a brief pause on the other line, but he could have sworn he could have heard his friend smile. 

“That’s awesome! I’m really proud of you, man.”

A smile draped across Luke’s face. He could still remember Reggie’s mortified reaction when he walked in on him and Alex, making out in the studio- he had clearly been totally blind to the chemistry between them (ironically), but he had accepted them immediately. 

“Thanks,” Luke replied. “She was really accepting about it.”

“Of course she was! Julie is super cool, and 2020 seems way more accepting than 1995.”

“Yeah, you’re telling me.” He had counted at least a dozen same-sex couples with wedding rings on just in that one morning. “I just thought she should know, ya know? I’m just…”

“Worried about Alex?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah…me too.” Reggie hesitated, before telling him, quietly: “I don’t want Caleb harassing Julie’s friends and family…maybe I do just need to go to him.”

His eyes widened, knowing this is exactly what Caleb would want to hear. It was horrifying enough thinking of Alex under his control, trapped and made to do god knew what in his club, let alone Reggie too. There was only one way they could do this, he felt, and it was if they could figure out the true strength of their powers and do this together.

“That’s what Caleb wants!” Luke hissed. “You said it yourself, he literally tried to scare you to get you to give in. It’s the last thing Alex would want. We’ll be able to fight him, together, I know it. God, I hate that I sent us here. I can’t believe I couldn’t just do this protection thing at home.”

“It’s probably better you’re far away, for Julie's sake,” Reggie said. “There had to be some reason your subconscious took you there.”

“Yeah, I hope so.” He didn’t want to admit the longer they hung around New York, the less confidence Luke had that his subconscious had any idea what it was actually doing. Reggie had fallen silent again, and he still couldn’t help but to feel like his friend wasn’t telling him. “Are you doing okay?”

“Yeah.” The empty reply came all too quickly. “Um…I better get back to Ray and Flynn. I’ll try to do the protection thing here. Just…be careful.”

“Yeah…you too…” but neither one of them hung up, and once again it felt just like their last goodbye, like who knew when they’d talk again.

“Hey, Luke…can we take a minute to celebrate the fact that this is our first ever cell phone conversation?”

Luke grinned.

“I know, right? Stay safe, Reg. We'll figure out a way to get back to you guys. Until then _please_ don't anything stupid." 

"I can't make any promises. See you later, Luke."

He could hear Flynn on the other end, trying to explain to Reggie that he just needed to hit the big red button to hang up, and a sad smile lingered on his face. The call ended, the phone faded to dark, and he made himself put on a brave face as he walked back over to Julie and handed her the device back.

“Thanks,” he told her, sincerely.

Wordlessly she pocketed the phone, her body tense as she turned and began to walk down the nearest path, which led back out to the city.

“Julie!” He called after her, letting out a frustrated sigh. Any time he felt like they were getting somewhere it was like they were immediately sent two steps back. “Julie, it’s going to be okay.”

She swirled around, her face hard and arms wrapped around her chest.

“How can you say that?” She shot. “You can’t possibly know that because right now things are very much _not_ okay. He went after my living, breathing, best friend, Luke! I can’t just stay in hiding from him!”

“I know,” he said, placing his hands on her shoulders and offering a comforting squeeze. “I know, and I’m sorry Julie, that we’re stuck here, but I’m not sorry that I’m protecting you from him. Your family’s okay, that’s all that matters. Reggie’s going to try to figure out a way to do the same kind of protection spell on them.”

Julie at least looked a little calmer, like she hadn’t thought of that, but she didn’t look entirely convinced.

“We can’t just hide forever,” she said quietly.

At the thought of _forever_ his body quivered at the thought of having to use this much energy to keep them protected for eternity. He would do it in a heartbeat, but deep down he knew that by still having to subconsciously use this energy while he was sleeping, he was draining himself even more. And he wasn’t sure how much total power he even had to give her.

A couple of lifers passed them on the trail, totally unbeknownst to their presence or their world. It was a young couple, smiling, their hands connected and swinging between them as they walked. Luke felt a pang of jealousy; what he would have given to enjoy a day here with Julie, like that, not a care in the world. Alive.

“How about this?” He spoke up, grinning wildly. “We'll keep practicing this whole magic thing, and then tonight, I want to take you out to dinner.”

A faint blush rose on Julie’s cheeks. He knew he was skirting into dangerous territory, but he didn’t care. If all they could do was just hide and stay invisible, at least they could try to make the most out of one night in New York. At least for a couple of hours. 

“Ghosts don’t go out to eat,” Julie stated, rolling her eyes, “and neither do invisible lifers.”

“Invisible lifers still need to eat,” he pointed out. It looked like her stomach might have growled even as he pointed out food, and she at least looked like she wanted to give him a chance. “Come on, we’ll figure it out. I think it will be good, ya know, to clear our minds.”

“I don’t want to poof anywhere,” she announced. “We’re close enough to walk to a restaurant. And I think we should take a break from magic for a while, I can tell you need it, and I need to try to wrap my head around all this. You’re right, maybe we need to clear our minds and come up with a new plan. Let’s just walk around the city for a while.”

He felt relieved, not only that she had agreed to let him take her out but that she was putting her foot down on any more magic practice. While he didn’t feel good about taking a break from working on figuring out any way they could beat Caleb, he could feel his body was overwhelmed from continuously trying to use up all that energy.

And there was a fluttering feeling in his soul at the thought of spending some time on this gorgeously bright day just wondering around with Julie.

“You got it, boss.”

She rolled her eyes playfully at the nickname and reached out to take his hand. His smile remained plastered on his face, and his soul melted at the thought that if anyone could see them right now they would have looked like just any other pair of teenagers who were out enjoying the day.

Luke had to admit, it was a nice feeling to indulge in.

Even just temporarily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't forgotten Nick or Carrie either ;) 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this mid-week update! I got more ahead in writing this week, and I'm very excited to share where this goes so thought I'd give you this update now! I mean we could all use more Juke in our lives, right? Thank you so much for reading, leaving kudos and comments, I love hearing what you guys think about the story!


	10. You Can Run...

“Reggie…are you sure about this?” Ray asked as he, Flynn and the phantom stood in front of the Molina’s house.

Ray barely had time to wrap his mind around the idea of his daughter being made invisible by Luke when Reggie frantically tried to explain that he needed to do the same with him and Flynn. Only, the phantom had looked more drained than ever after he magically fixed the studio, he was hardly even able to pick himself off the floor, choosing to sit with his back against the bathroom door as he and Flynn caught him up on everything going on in New York. Of course, his dad sense had noticed them stealing uncertain glances more than a couple of times, and he knew there was more that they were hiding from him. At this point though, he wasn’t sure his heart could take any more groundbreaking news, and he let it slide. Reggie had finally confessed that he wasn’t sure he had it in them to make both of them constantly invisible to Caleb, and it dawned on him that maybe he could protect the entire house instead. At least for today, when Flynn was due to hang out with Julie all day anyway, it was a start.

So there he stood before his own home, with his daughter’s best friend and her ghost friend, as the three stared, trying to figure out how this would work.

“Caleb has made the Hollywood Ghost Club invisible to all of Hollywood for decades, you can only see it if you’ve been invited,” Reggie stated, “there’s got to be a way to do the same with your house, so that he can’t come back here.”

Even Flynn stole an uncertain glance over to Ray, and leaned forward and whispered:

“Maybe you should go ahead and get anything important out of the house, just in case the whole place disappears.”

He wished that didn’t sound so rational, but he wouldn’t even know where to begin.

Reggie glared at them.

“Trust me,” he promised. “Do I have your permission, Ray?”

He considered that truthfully, Reggie himself had given him very little reason to _not_ trust him, and he let out a long sigh before finally nodding in agreement.

Slowly, Reggie lifted a hand, and Ray braced himself for…whatever might happen. How the phantom had any idea what he was doing, he didn’t understand, but any lack of confidence instantly seemed to be swept away as Reggie’s eyes closed. He raised his hands toward the house but was totally relaxed and stayed like that, silent, for a full moment. Just as he was wondering if he was supposed to be doing something himself, Reggie’s eyes opened again. He looked more serious than usual, he looked completely drained, as he announced:

“It worked.”

Ray blinked, staring from Reggie to the house.

“How do you know?” He asked.

“I can’t feel him anymore.” The comment chilled Ray to the bone, but he didn’t pry. Reggie drew in a deep breath, looking helpless and anxious as he stated: “You’re safe now. Anywhere on the property. I’m sorry, that I didn’t think to do that before.”

It pained him that the phantom carried so much responsibility that he actually felt guilty for things he could have never known how to do.

“Did you have any idea these protection spells even existed before an hour ago?” Ray pointed out. Reggie shook his head. “Then how could you have ever known?”

With a shrug, he muttered:

“Luke figured it out.”

“Luke didn’t have any idea he even did anything,” Flynn pointed out, “don’t give him too much credit.”

Looking more helpless than ever, instead of replying, Reggie simply disappeared on the spot. 

He could only hope Reggie wouldn’t do something stupid…like try to go after Caleb himself.

His brain felt heavy; his whole body felt raw and he suddenly recognized the sensation of adrenaline wearing off. It felt like they had been running at 200mph since midnight, his whole world had turned upside down since midnight. Now that Julie was under Luke’s protection and his home was under Reggie’s, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do next.

“Did you get _any_ sleep last night?” Flynn questioned, studying him with concern.

That, he realized in defeat, that’s what he needed to do.

“No,” he admitted. While he had taken up one of Trevor’s guest rooms, he never could get to sleep, his mind racing too fast to concentrate on relaxing.

“And you probably haven’t eaten anything?” She continued. Ray just stared; only teenagers would ever think about food right now. Of course he hadn’t eaten. How could he, when he felt so anxious his stomach felt like it was churning with sour bile? “I only ask because Julie was supposed to be my brunch date, so I purposefully did not eat breakfast and now I’m starving. How about you go take a nap, and I’ll check on Reggie and order Doordash?”

Feeling numb to the world, Ray didn’t have the energy to do anything but follow the teenager back down the drive. He had no idea how Flynn had so much energy, but he was sure she was still running on adrenaline herself- and probably an unhealthy amount of caffeine. He was trying to convince himself that realistically, things physically were relatively okay: the studio was back in its place, Julie was being protected from Caleb by Luke. But his body was so used to the shock now that he could only cling to that image of seeing his wife’s studio, his home, totally destroyed. Caleb had known exactly where to hit them where it hurt, and it was unsettling.

He entered his home cautiously, expecting somehow for it to feel different, under Reggie’s spell but was relieved when it looked exactly the same as he left it. Carlos’ dirty baseball cleats were still by the door, the kitchen light was on from when he never got that cup of tea the night before, and Julie’s bag from the Orpheum rested on the counter. A sad smile drifted across his face as he thought back to how incredible Julie sounded, taking on the Orpheum stage all by herself, on just a day’s notice. She was a _pro_. And now, knowing who the band really was and what they had been through, his heart ached knowing what that show had meant to them.

Now, nothing about his life felt familiar. He had no idea what to do with Carlos, if he was safer with Victoria or here at home under this spell; it felt like ages since he had last spoken to his son and it just wasn’t fair to him. To any of them. The kids were supposed to have school tomorrow. Those realizations were enough to send all the anxious thoughts reeling through his mind again, and he knew he’d never sleep. He didn’t even have enough energy to make it to his room, opting instead to sink down on the sofa. His muscles cracked, dizziness swept over him and he leaned forward, resting his head in his hands, trying to pull himself together.

He didn’t even hear the front door open as Flynn entered the house, and only vaguely heard her announce:

“I didn’t see Reggie out there, but I’m pretty sure he’s in the loft because one of the bean bags definitely shifted when I called his name. He probably just needs some space. Are tacos okay? Because McDonalds is going to take 45 minutes, and I might actually- _hey_ …”

Flynn had seen him at his lowest before, when Rose was at her sickest and he was at the hospital practically twenty-four seven. She practically lived at their house that year, bringing them food, helping Carlos with his homework and just being there for Julie when his daughter’s year in silence began. Selfishly, he was a little relieved to have her on their side through this.

She offered him a small smile and hugged him.

“You’re a great dad, you know.”

He let out an empty laugh, too exhausted to argue even though he couldn’t agree. He was pretty sure great dads didn’t have daughters running for their lives because of an evil ghost who was after him. And he was pretty sure great dads didn’t completely miss that his daughter’s hologram band were actually dead teenagers living in his own damn house.

“Thanks, Flynn,” he said, offering her the sincerest smile that he could manage. “I don’t know what our family would do without you.”

“I know,” she beamed.

He couldn’t even argue with her confidence.

“Thanks, you know…for always being there, when Rose was sick. I don’t think I ever said.”

“You didn’t have to,” she promised, and he could tell she meant it. “So, tacos?”

The first odd thing Carrie noticed as she pulled up to her home was that the Molina’s SUV was parked outside the security gate. She shook her head, trying to ignore the blood starting to boil under her skin at the very sight. Hadn’t Julie done enough this weekend?

“What now?” She mumbled to herself as she punched in her security code and drove through.

There was no sign of life in the house when she entered, and Carrie felt even more unnerved.

“Daddy?” She called, carefully closing the door behind her.

“In the kitchen, Care.”

The sound of knife against board echoed and the smell of roasted vegetables hit her as she waltzed over to the kitchen.

“Smells good-“ she stopped short when she saw the state of the kitchen.

Her father appeared to be chopping every vegetable they had in stock. There were three different pots going on the stove, with vegetables roasting in the oven. Multiple types of cheeses and breads were set out.

“What’s all this?” Carrie asked skeptically.

“I thought we could have lunch,” her dad announced.

Carrie stared.

Except for holidays, she couldn’t remember ever sitting down and eating lunch with her dad on a Sunday. Nerves began to eat at her as she thought about her dad’s recent breakdown and suddenly, she felt terrible for having left him there alone. The bags under his eyes and various empty tea mugs in the sink told her he hadn’t slept.

“Are you okay?” She asked slowly, nervously eyeing the knife in his hands. “Why’s Mr. Molina’s car here?”

Her dad froze for a moment, staring oddly at the vegetables he was cutting.

“Yeah, he just was dropping by and his car broke down, I called an Uber for him,” he explained; he seemed to shake himself out of it, like he was proud he came up with his story: “They’re cleaning out the studio and found some of Rose’s old songs, he thought I might want to look at them. Anyway, I’ve just been busy lately, and thought we could have lunch. Grilled cheese and tomato soup. Your favorite, right?”

She blinked; the meal hadn’t been her favorite since she was eight years old. But she didn’t have the heart to tell him that. And she wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about Ray being over here, and couldn’t have been more thankful that she hadn’t left Kayla’s house any earlier.

“Um…sure?”

“Great, because I have three different kinds of cheeses to try out,” he rambled on, “and I started a chili for dinner. This will be good. New traditions. I mean, you’re about to be seventeen, and you’ll be off in the world doing your own thing soon.”

_Seventeen._

Her heart sank.

She was about to be seventeen, just like his friends were when they died. So, this was still a part of his breakdown.

“Daddy…” she sighed, hesitating as she tried to think of something helpful to say.

“Was rehearsal okay?” He asked, cutting in before she could go there.

And there they were, avoiding talking about anything important, just like normal.

“Yeah, it was fine.”

Without offering more she swirled on her feet and stormed up the stairs. She threw her bag on the bed before throwing herself on it next, hating the feeling of tears prickling at her eyes. What a shitty weekend. Then again, any weekend that started with _Julie Molina_ getting to open at the Orpheum was bound to be a bad one. Almost instinctively, Carrie took out her phone, staring blankly at her contacts, and her heart sank when she saw the chain of texts from Nick leftover from last week.

When did everything start going so wrong?

It felt like she had had _no_ say in anything anymore. Life just kept happening _to_ her, and always had really, ever since whoever her real parents were gave her up and some famous Rockstar decided to adopt her. Not feeling in control should be something she was long since used to by now, but it hit her hard every time something like this came up again.

 _I think we should talk,_ she texted Nick.

He was not allowed to just break up with her, with no explanation. Of anything, _she_ was the one who should be doing the breaking up. Julie’s puppy love crush on Nick was obvious from space, and now the moment she became popular Carrie was getting dumped for her? After consulting with the girls last night, she had decided that no, she was not just going to let Nick ruin her reputation like that.

“Carrie!” Her dad’s shouting nearly made her jump out of her skin, and she rolled her eyes, remembering their lunch, and went back downstairs.

Carrie was surprised to find her dad had them set up in the fancy dining room, the one they only ever used when record executives or celebrities came over. It had to be the fanciest grilled cheese and tomato soup ever, it was practically a buffet, and she hated how her stomach immediately started to growl. She offered him the best fake smile she could, trying to hide her concern because something was definitely wrong.

She remembered how when Rose was first sick, she took Julie out to this fancy Indian restaurant and then broke the news on the way home.

“You’re not like…sick, are you?” She asked.

“No,” her dad said with a hollow laugh, as though to say _not physically sick_. “No, just, sit.”

Still skeptical, Carrie took her seat across from him and was almost relieved when they fell back into their normal awkward silence. For a while they just at and ate, her dad’s face pale as he stared at his food intently, almost like he had forgotten she was there.

“So, were the songs any good?” Carrie asked. Her dad stared at her, blinked, clearly having no idea what she meant. “The songs that Mr. Molina brought over?”

He let out a long breath, grateful for the hint.

 _What the hell is going on?_ She was extraordinarily not amused that she was still not being clued in, even after their heart and heart and worse, whatever was really going on involved Julie.

“Oh, yeah they were okay, they were just some old ideas.”

It was all he offered as he returned to his meal, though she noticed he was mostly stirring the soup around in the bowl and not eating. Abruptly, she dropped her spoon, staring at him, trying to glare at him enough to make him notice she was angry. When he never did, she exclaimed:

“Okay, what is going on?!”

Her dad jumped; his hand was trembling, she noticed, and he stuffed it under the table when he saw her noticing.

“Look, Care,” he sighed. “I wanted to ask…how would you felt about moving?”

Carrie blinked.

Somehow, it was both the most obvious thing that could have been going on and the last thing she expected to hear.

And honestly, she realized, she had no idea how she felt about moving. She wasn’t particularly attached to their house, it felt more like a prison than a home with all the security, though the pool and home gym _was_ nice.

“You mean like…to another house?”

Shaking his head, he admitted:

“No, I mean…you know maybe to New York? Maybe even somewhere international, maybe London?”

Her heart skipped a beat, and she wondered if she was still dreaming. Truth be told, while she did like her band and her friends, it was all just so faked most of the time that she knew she could drop them in a heartbeat if she needed to. Everyone dropped her all the time; she could do the same in the name to moving to _New York or London_.

“Um…New York would be amazing,” she admitted, “but where is this coming from? What about your career, you’ve always been based in L.A.?”

He shrugged, as though they weren’t talking about his multi-million dollar, Grammy nominated music enterprise.

“I was thinking of retiring.”

Now that was a bombshell. Her mouth fell open, but she had no idea where to even begin. How does one even retire from being an international Rockstar?

“I’m not really touring anymore,” he explained, “and I’m too old to really be in the rock scene these days. I don’t even have enough hits for a greatest hits album, and I’m one flop away from having to do _commercials_.”

Her nose scrunched up at the thought of her dad’s music being used in one of those cheesy Target commercials or worse, him having to sell his soul and do insurance commercials for a living.

“I thought starting out somewhere fresh would be nice,” he said. “I know it’s selfish, it’s your last year of school-“

“No!” She cut in. Quite frankly she was so over everything lately that running away sounded like fun. “No, I’m game. I mean if you want to move tonight that’s fine with me with the way my life is going.”

“Great! Actually-“ he stopped short, realizing he was missing a key dad moment. “Wait, what’s going on?”

_Walked right into that one._

“Nothing,” she lied, her brain already too focused on the idea of New York or London, getting to do moving vlogs on her YouTube channel, getting a new room. Her eyes lit up suddenly. “You know, you should do one of those house hunting shows! Or we could start a whole moving series on YouTube, those vlogs do so well. We could make some serious money off of this!”

Her dad’s eyes widened in horror.

“No!” He exclaimed; his hand was trembling again, she noticed. “No…you can’t actually tell anyone about this. We actually…we need to move pretty quickly.”

Her heart sank even deeper, and she was hit with the realization that this wasn’t as good of a move as he was trying to make it sound. Worse, it was obvious that it was never going to matter how she felt about this move, he was going to make her go along with it anyway.

“What’s really going on?” She demanded, and when she hesitated, her panic only got worse. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”

His breathing was starting to pick up again, just like it had Friday night. She was trying to not freak out, for his sake- this was erratic even for _Trevor Wilson_ \- something was clearly very, very wrong. But she didn’t like how he thought it was just okay to spring this up on her…literally with her having no say. Clearly whatever was going on with this ghost stuff, with his old band, was way more involved than he was letting on.

“Please, Care, you just have to trust me on this.”

She scoffed at him, in complete disbelief that after everything, he still wasn’t going to trust her with something as important as why they needed to up and move in secret all of a sudden.

“You know what,” she shot, “why don’t you move you move on your own? You go and retire and make a third new identity. See how far you get running from your problems while I make a life of my own.”

She regretted saying it as soon as she did, the remark leaving a foul taste in her mouth as tears rushed in her eyes as she rushed out of the dining room and pounded up the stairs.

Reggie was officially not okay.

As though the past twenty-four hours hadn’t been bad enough, Caleb had to go and do something as low as attack his _home_. He attacked a living, breathing, teenage girl who had nothing to do with this, all to get to him. To _challenge_ him.

He knew Flynn and Ray would be looking for him and wasn’t surprised to hear Julie’s friend calling for him. He knew it was selfish hiding out, but he needed space. He just needed a moment, to wrap his head around this, push back the uncertainty and anxiety trying to shake him, and figure out how he was going to do this alone. The studio might look good as new, but as the guys’ instruments sat untouched and the room stood completely and uncharacteristically silent, the guys had never felt further away from him. Poofing up to the loft, he willed himself to be invisible to everyone as he collapsed on one of the bean bags and curled up with his knees to his chest. He felt like a child, and he felt a strong sense of dejavu from the many nights he had run off to the studio. And he felt pathetic, that he hadn’t even lasted a couple days and Caleb had attacked.

At last, he went back down to the studio, knowing there was one thing that would save him right now. He picked his bass off of the stand it rested on, wanting to make sure for himself that it was okay, and smiled sadly in relief when he found that aside from being a little out of tune, it was just as he left it. As soon as his fingers began dancing across the strings, a smile slipped across his face; he immediately felt more at ease. He felt in control, when he played, it had always been one of the major draws to music for him. It was why it was so terrifying to be possessed to play with Caleb; he couldn’t lose the one thing he always had control over, even as a ghost. He lost track of time as he played, letting Caleb and his father’s memory take a backseat in his mind for a while, focusing solely on the music.

That’s how Ray found him, hours after they last saw each other. looking relieved that his wife’s studio really was still okay.

“Stones, ‘Miss You’,” Ray announced, pointing at the bass he was playing as he took a seat on the chair by the sofa where Reggie sat.

His smile brightened.

“I love this bass line,” he replied. “We saw them, you know, back in ’94. It was life changing, I’ve been thinking about that night.”

It was the memory he had let his mind get lost in, remembering so vividly the guys’ bright faces as they jumped up and down, screaming out lyrics during the entire show. Nothing felt wrong in the world that night. They had stayed out all night, driving around, still singing their hearts out, too elated to go home and sleep. Reggie didn’t have a voice for almost two days after, and it was so worth it.

“I was there!” Ray exclaimed, his eyes lit up for a second before they stared at each other, too freaked out at the idea that they had both been at the same concert, over twenty-five years ago.

“Oh this is weird,” said Reggie, shaking his head.

“Tell me about it. Where were you guys sitting?”

“Nosebleeds, it was all we could afford, but it didn’t matter, it was incredible.”

“Yeah it was.”

Ray was grinning now too, reliving the memory in his own mind. He was trying to wrap his mind around the idea that they had both been at the same place, at the same time, in the past. Their lives were just so intertwined it was spooky.

“We went for my birthday, when I turned seventeen,” Reggie explained. He felt bad to see Ray’s face fall as he had to bring up that depressing thought, and he quickly added: “It was a pretty fantastic last birthday.”

The other man stayed quiet and really, what was there that could be said to that? Julie would be celebrating her seventeenth birthday in a few months. They never would have begun to imagine that night that it would be his last birthday, that they wouldn’t make it to the next October. Or that they would become magical ghosts.

“Sometimes it feels like I’m remembering someone else’s life,” he confessed. “Playing music helps keeps me grounded, it always has, but it felt wrong to play any of our stuff. I miss the guys...we're never away from each other this long. Sorry that I’ve been out here all day, I’ve just been trying to process.”

“It’s okay, I get it. I just wanted to check on you.”

Ray hesitated, and Reggie knew that he wanted to add “and see if you have any idea what we do now”, but he obviously caught on that the phantom was just as clueless about all of this as he was.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted out. “I’m sorry that Caleb attacked your home because of me, and I’m just…hanging out in your garage playing bass, having your everyday afterlife crisis. I’m sorry that I don’t have any idea what I’m supposed to be doing, or even what I can do.”

Leaning forward, Ray folded his hands together, taking a moment to consider his words before speaking up, his voice low and sincere:

“I don’t have any clue how you think you’re supposed to know what to do right now. _I_ don’t have any idea what we’re supposed to be doing, except making sure Flynn is safe. All I know is that if Rose really did have anything to do with you guys coming back, I can promise you that my wife never did anything without a purpose. She believed in you guys, and so do I.”

Plucking absent-mindedly at the bass, Reggie thought carefully about how much he wanted to admit was on his mind. He had been bothered ever since his conversation with Luke, knowing how much Ray was worried and how pissed he would be if he had to find out the hard way that his daughter was stuck in New York.

“If I tell you something will you promise not to be mad at Julie for not telling you and maybe just act like you never knew?”

Ray blinked.

“Is it something to do with her safety?”

With a groan, Reggie admitted:

“Yes.”

“Then…maybe, but I need you to tell me anyway.”

He really should have seen that coming; there was no way he couldn’t tell him now.

“Julie and Luke are kind of…stuck in New York,” he confessed. Ray leaned forward, his eyes narrowing, panic starting to build but didn’t interrupt. “Luke hasn’t been able to teleport more than a couple of miles. He thinks it’s just because his energy is totally drained from the trip, so they’ve been trying to rest, but he’s also trying to figure out his magic. I’m just wondering…I’m wondering if maybe I should try to go there and bring them back. Maybe I can put us all under protection from Caleb, and we can figure out a way to beat him.”

Ray paused, and it was enough for Reggie to see that he didn’t exactly think it was a terrible idea. It was fairly rational, he thought, so rational it made him nervous.

“Do you think you’re strong enough to do that?”

Shrugging, Reggie admitted:

“I don’t know. Not yet, maybe. But it makes the most sense. Either that or maybe I should just hand myself over to Caleb and get it over with.”

He could feel himself being studied and he squirmed, regretting ever saying anything. Of course, he wasn’t strong enough to do this. Between reversing the damage to the studio and doing the protective spell, he didn’t feel like he had the energy in him to teleport to the beach right now if he tried, let alone to the east coast.

But he could make himself get to that point, if he had to.

“Reggie, remember how you stopped me from handing Trevor over to Caleb, even though it seemed like a rational option? This is me doing the same for you. You’re not handing yourself over to Caleb. You’re not risking yourself to bring Julie back, especially if you don’t think you’re strong enough yet. We’ll find another way.”

The bassist’s eyes trailed away; he couldn’t understand how Ray could care about him so much after only knowing him for less than a day.

His imposter syndrome was getting worse.

“I can’t just let him go after your family and Julie’s friends.”

“Do you think it’s better to have Caleb in control the afterlife, with possession of all of you guys’ power?” Ray stated. “Do you really think he’ll just leave us alone because he has you?”

He didn’t have the heart to point out that he was pretty sure Caleb had some power over the lifers’ world too, but he knew Ray was right. While it was a rational solution, and it would be the easy solution, it wouldn’t be a permanent one.

“Reggie,” Ray called again, his eyes commanding his attention and he met them, reluctantly. “You deserve to be safe. All you guys have is your souls and each other, and you deserve to have that and figure out your unfinished business and crossover or…take advantage of your second chance in the afterlife, whatever you want to do. It’s not wrong. I hereby give you permission to not self-sacrifice yourself for my daughter. It’s not what Julie would want, and it’s not what I want.”

Reggie wasn’t even sure how to accept someone being this kind in him, and he must have shown it because Ray moved to the couch to sit by him and didn’t hesitate to embrace him.

“You’re not alone in this, mijo.”

And now the tears were threatening to fall, and he breathed heavily, really not wanting to break down right now.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I’m not exactly used to having an adult care about me.”

“Yeah, well you’re family now, get used to it.”

Ray smiled as they broke a part, and Reggie couldn’t help but to mirror him.

_Family._

Truth be told, the word had not meant much to him in the past. The guys were his family, yes, they only ever had each other to look after them. It was a weird feeling, having someone older (though maybe not technically), wiser, more experienced in life looking out for him. If only Living Reggie had that, maybe he wouldn’t have been dumb enough to heat hot dogs from a street vendor in a back alley who sold condiments out of the back of his car.

“Thanks, Ray.”

He was officially out of strength to say anything more useful. He was mentally wiped out and physically felt heavy. His head was spinning, overwhelmed with emotion and love and fear. He felt restless, like he should be _doing_ something, and the idea of having to just stay put and wait for next steps left him feeling helpless.

But he had a family to protect now, and that was something; even if he was just staying put and being there for them.

The stakes just got higher.

“Anyway,” Ray announced, getting to his feet, “I know Carlos would be protected here, but I just feel better if he’s as far away from this as possible. I told Victoria that Julie has the flu…I’m not exactly sure if she bought it, and fair warning she will definitely storm in here to try to figure out what is going on, but I guess Carlos was excited about going to her pool today anyway so she’s keeping him. It gives Julie an excuse to miss school, I just need to figure out a convincing way to tell the school.”

He didn’t take Julie’s dad for a rule-breaker at all, but with the stakes so high he was willing to risk everything for his kids. He was covering all his bases, and Reggie admired it.

“Ohhh, I can forge a convincing doctor’s note!” Reggie offered. “I used to do it for Luke all the time.”

Ray stared at him, looking both concerned that it was a necessary thing for him to do for Luke and obviously concerned about the thought that maybe it was something the guys had done for Julie before.

“And of course, I would never do that for Julie, ever, except in this emergency,” he quickly corrected, “because school is important. Honestly, I loved school!”

He wasn’t lying. School and the band were his escapes from his home life. School meant free food, it meant not being around his father for eight hours a day, it meant getting to hang out with the guys. School gave him a routine, which was something Living Reggie had desperately needed in his screwed-up life.

“I might take you up on that,” Ray sighed, “but only this once. And it’s fine, if you need some space, I totally understand but…it’s been really weird hanging out with my daughter’s best friend all day, so what I’m saying is I’d appreciate the company if you’re up for joining us in watching some movies. I know it feels like we should be doing something right now, and god knows I want to, but in the name of having no idea what we’re doing I think the best thing we can do is just get some rest. You kids deserve it, and I just need to wrap my head around all of this. If we’re protected, in this house, I think it’s just okay.”

While it felt wrong to sit around doing something as mundane as movie night, his spirits lifted at the idea. And it was nice, to be wanted. He could read easily between the lines: Flynn was a _lot_ and Ray looked far too exhausted to do this alone.

“Can we-“

“Flynn says no Star Wars.”

Reggie fumed, but after all he’d kind of rather watch through that franchise with the guys anyway. He’d need their emotional support.

“She thought you might want to get started on Marvel movies,” Ray mused as they walked out of the studio.

“Marvel? As in the comics?”

“Yeah, were you a fan?”

The wicked grin on Ray’s face told him he could see right through him that he absolutely was.

“Are you kidding me??” He grinned. “I was only Spiderman for three Halloweens in a row as a kid. And not just because my mom was too cheap to pay for a new costume, though if the guys ask, that was why. Comics were next favorite thing after Star Wars. And music, of course.”

“Would you believe me if I said there were at least a dozen Spiderman movies made since the 90s?”

He made a mental note to ask Julie what the deal was with her holding out on him about these movies. Reggie didn’t mind as Ray placed an arm around his shoulders, leading him back to the main house. Maybe he didn’t have the answers to all of their problems right now, but if Caleb was trying to make him feel like his home wasn’t safe, one thing was for sure, Reggie wasn’t going to let him succeed.

Luke had been serious about taking her out to dinner. Julie’s stomach was in knots over trying to figure out _is this a date_? But she tried to calm herself down as she considered that if she happened to be stranded in New York with say, Reggie, he would definitely also drag her around to all the nicest restaurants to take full advantage of her invisibility as well. She couldn’t help but to smile, considering the amount of New York pizza the bassist would be begging her to try. After spending some time walking around the city, waltzing through Harlem, lounging on the banks of the Hudson (where Luke may or may not have magically made some drunk kayakers tip over), and after she called her dad multiple times to insist yes, she was still okay, they found themselves in the kitchen of a highly rated Italian restaurant. Luke was busy admiring the different dishes as they were carried out to the floor while she leaned over a menu, trying to decide…

“I still don’t see how you have all of the New York food scene at your fingertips and not at least choose the nicest steakhouse around,” he commented, “don’t you guys eat leftover pasta like, all the time?”

“I really don’t eat a lot of meat,” she muttered.

“How?!”

Rolling her eyes, she shot:

“Since befriending three ghosts who died of hotdog.”

“…that’s fair.”

She carefully moved out of the way to avoid a waiter placing an order next in line, and she tried to not let herself get worked up about how expensive this food was.

“So how’s this going to work?” Julie asked him. “It’s one thing to make us invisible, but I don’t understand how this is working with other objects.”

“I think I’m just making things invisible as I touch them, if I concentrate enough.” Luke carefully lifted a full plate of ravioli and waved it in front of one of the cooks; the cook’s face contorted with confusion as the plate suddenly disappeared. “Sweet!”

“Here, give me that, ravioli is fine!” She said, taking the plate when he nearly dropped it. With a grin, he handed her a fork to try it and…it was without a doubt the most flavorful pasta she had ever tried. “Okay, this puts Dad’s leftover spaghetti to shame.”

“Yeah it does, come on.”

He motioned for her to follow him back into the main dining area. The restaurant was small and dark, but cozy, complete with a quartet playing in the corner. Bottles of wine lined the wall, and all of the customers were in sleek dresses or tuxes. She glanced down at her yoga pants and sweatshirt, feeling her cheeks redden with embarrassment.

“I am so underdressed,” she groaned.

“You look great,” he insisted.

She was certain she was blushing as Luke led her toward a booth toward the back of the restaurant, near the restrooms.

“No one likes to sit near the restrooms,” he informed her confidently, “it will be the last table they fill.”

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, she followed him, sliding her plate carefully onto the table. She felt ridiculous, but the strong wave of tomato and herbs coming from her (stolen) meal were making her even hungrier. Across from her, the phantom sank back against the cushions of the booth, looking as though he could easily take a nap while she ate. She wasn’t sure if either of them realized how mentally spent they were until they just sat down and tried to pretend like they were just normal teenagers, at dinner. If only she could think of anything to talk to him about, because she felt more than a little anxious at being in a restaurant this nice, sitting this close together. All day they had been talking about magic, and it was the last thing she wanted to talk about right now. She remembered Flynn’s warnings and thought sticking to the more basic topics might be best.

“So…when you were alive…what kinds of food did you like?”

Luke blinked, looking totally perplexed, and Julie felt like she couldn’t have picked a stupider topic.

“Julie, I lived in a garage for the last six months of my life,” he pointed out, “my favorite food was whatever was free.”

She gave him a funny look, wondering if maybe food stealing was something he had been talented at even before becoming a ghost. He seemed to catch on.

“I mean, Bobby brought me a lot of leftovers, but I basically survived on six months of ramen and fast food. Honestly, I can’t believe my stomach wasn’t able to handle a little food poisoning after all that.”

 _Note to self._ _Don’t talk to Luke about food._

It was like that one crash and burn was all it took for her mind to start reeling, wondering what she thought she was doing. In normal teenage life she had proven to be absolutely hopeless when it came to talking about boys, hence letting Nick fall for Carrie because she was too shy to ever say as much as hello. What made her think _this_ would be any easier?

“Sorry,” she finally mumbled, “I was just trying to think of a non-Caleb topic of conversation. I still feel weird that we’re just…eating out.”

At that Luke’s lips turned up into a bemused grin, and he leaned forward, as though anyone else could really hear what was going on between them.

“You have to eat. And there’s twenty-five years of pop culture history and actual history between us, and you went with ‘what’s your favorite food’,” he teased. “How about…what was the first concert you ever went to?”

Julie bit her lip, knowing that he’d want to hear this even less than food topics.

“Trevor Wilson.”

“You’ve got to be kidding!”

“I was like, seven years old and he and my mom were really good friends! It was a big deal; he was headlining the Hollywood Bowl! I had VIP backstage passes and everything.”

Luke’s mouth fell open as he paused, making sure he heard right.

“He got to play the Hollywood Bowl?!”

“Yeah…multiple times…” before any more awkward silence could fall between them, she retorted the question back to him: “So, what was yours?”

His eyes twinkled, and she realized it was the first time she had ever seen him light up like that at the mention of an old memory.

“Bruce Springsteen, Memorial Coliseum, September 1985. It was with my dad. I was only like eight, but it was _incredible_.”

And Julie could just imagine a little eight year old Luke at his first ever rock concert, _(almost twenty years before you were even born,_ her brain reminded her _)_ jumping up in down, undoubtedly screaming all the lyrics to every single song.

“That’s adorable!”

She could have sworn he was practically blushing, but the smile lingered on his face as the memory returned to him, and Julie felt accomplished.

“It wasn’t adorable, it was amazing. Best first concert I could have gone to. Alex’s first concert was _Rod Stewart_ with his mom, and let me tell you, words cannot describe how lame that would have been.”

She was really trying to hide the fact that she didn’t understand this at all, but he caught on quickly.

“You don’t have any idea who Rod Stewart is, do you?” He teased.

Grimacing, Julie offered:

“I know he had that ’Maggie Mae’ song.”

A very distinct memory of her mom ironically singing along with it on the radio hit her, and a pang of sadness hit her like a ton of bricks. She wondered if it felt the same for Luke, remembering the past and his parents like they were something he suddenly lost…or if it were a little easier because he was still living in their world.

Or if it was way harder because he was still living in their world.

“You are _so_ young,” he shot playfully.

“And you’re so old!”

“Hey, I’m glad I was born in the 70s. It was the age of rock and roll. I saw the Stones, Guns N’ Roses _and_ Clapton in ’89, all at the same show.”

Julie bit her lip, trying to not be frustrated with herself (or him) because she knew she could name maybe one or two Eric Clapton songs and knew nothing about Guns N’ Roses.

“I don’t know…”

“How do you not know-?!” he stopped short, just as the music changed from the quartet, from classical style to something more modern. Something familiar. Both of their eyes widened; her heart practically came screeching to a stop. “That’s my song.”

The quartet was starting to play a slowed down, instrumental rendition of “My Name Is Luke”. All of a sudden, two things hit her: Luke was _that_ Luke _(duh!)_ and someone knew they were there. They had to; it couldn’t be coincidence. Her heart sank, as she realized that every bad feeling she had about letting their guard down for so much as one meal was correct.

“Let’s go!” Luke mouthed silently, holding out his hand.

She grasped it, slamming her eyes shut and preparing herself for the pull of being teleported but…nothing happened. Her eyes opened, full of horror as she met Luke’s.

“It’s not working, at all!” He hissed.

“Just…come on.”

The quartet continued to play and no one seemed to notice as two teenagers left behind a half-eaten plate of food and made a break for the back exit by the bathrooms. They ended up in a narrow, dark alleyway, and Julie didn’t hesitate before pulling Luke back toward the street to run _anywhere_.

“Luke Patterson?”

Her blood ran cold at the sudden voice behind them. She skidded to a stop and Luke froze; he squeezed her hand so tightly she thought her fingers might break. The voice sounded like whoever it belonged to was _right there_ , they could probably hear her heart pounding.

Ever so slowly, Luke dared to turn around and she followed. At the sight of an older man, dressed in what looked like a uniform from World War II, Luke instinctively took a step in front of her, trying to shield her. She shoved by him, wanting to stand by him. What surprised her was that as Luke stared at this man, who was calling him by his full name, there was a flash of recognition in his eyes.

“I saw him, at the park!” He whispered. “I thought I was seeing things at first- he’s a ghost!”

“Do something!" She whispered back to him.

"I'm trying!" 

Her eyes dashed between her phantom and this new ghost, taking in their new threat as they backtracked their way right into an alley wall. Luke was tugging on her hand, like he was demanding the world to be able to take them somewhere, but nothing was working. She had even hoped he might somehow be able to slip them inside the alley wall, but as their backs hit the bricks she realized they were both couldn't go anywhere. The guitarist was looking desperately at his free hand, opening and closing it, like he was expecting it to do something but obviously no powers were working.

“What do you want from us?” Luke demanded, taking a step in front of her again.

Instead of answering, the man simply waved his hand and Julie felt a familiar tugging sensation. The world went blurry as she was forced through space, it wasn’t smooth at all like she had felt before, with Luke. It felt like the universe was _angry_ at her as she pulled her through, sending them away from the streets of New York.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tehehe...hehe....hehehehe...
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and for your comments and kudos! As always, I love hearing what you guys think about the story :) it's just so much fun to write. Hope you enjoyed the update! Our new ghost guy is quite important, stay tuned!


	11. ...But You Can't Hide

Julie and Luke held onto each other as they landed, stumbling but keeping their balance. The world swam and blood rushed to her head, but as she gave herself a moment to adjust, Julie could see that they had been transported to what appeared to be an old mansion. The grand lounge area they stood in reeked of dust and mildew, making her cough as she tried to pull herself together. There was an old sofa nearby, two armchairs on either side of a massive fireplace, all covered in white sheets. There were no photographs anywhere, no memorabilia or signs that anyone living had resided there for years. Even the windows were boarded up, save for the streaks of lighting shining in through cracks in the boards.

Before they could comment on figuring out where they were, there was a familiar swoosh and the old man appeared. Without word he through his hand toward the fireplace, lighting it up.

“Who are you?!” Luke exclaimed. When the man didn’t answer he shot his hands out, like he expected something to happen, but nothing magic came out.

“Your powers won’t work,” the man retorted, his voice hoarse and weak, like he hadn’t spoken in a long time.

Luke doubled over suddenly, and Julie grabbed onto him, keeping him from killing over just in time; he refused to let her lower him to the ground and managed to steady himself.

“What did you do to him?!” She exclaimed, her eyes darting between the phantom, who looked weaker than ever, and the older man. “Who are you?”

“ _I_ didn’t do anything to him,” he shot, “this is the result of him using uncontrolled magic for as long as he has. He doesn’t have any energy left in him, his hold on you was slipping so I stepped in. You’re welcome, by the way.”

It was only then that it hit her that _she was being seen_.

“I saw him before!” Luke whispered to Julie. “At the park…I thought I was seeing things.”

Julie was trying to register what the man was saying- was she or was she not still invisible? Did this mean Caleb had found them? _That_ easily?

“There’s a bounty on your heads.”

Her chest tightened when she realized what the man meant.

“You’re handing us over to Caleb,” she stated, her voice shaking.

At that Luke’s face contorted into rage, and he once again threw himself in between her and the older man.

“You’re not taking us anywhere!”

“I’m not handing you over to Caleb.”

_“Who are you?!”_

The old man stared the young ghost down; he looked almost amused, as though to say, _‘this_ is who Caleb is after’?

“Samuel,” the man finally greeted. He swallowed, hard, as though it was painful to talk. “My name is Samuel, and I have no intention of taking you to Caleb.”

She and Luke exchanged glances, confused, in shock, both of them just as unwilling to trust him. 

“You’re a ghost,” she announced. Samuel nodded, a grim smile turning up at his lips. “I can see you…”

The ghost held up a hand, trying to calm her down.

“It’s only because I’m making you see me,” he assured her. She wasn’t like an _actual_ medium, then; she couldn’t help but to be relieved, because wouldn’t that twist have just been too much. “And don’t worry, you’re still being protected from Caleb.”

Relief swept through her, though she wasn’t ready to lend this phantom any trust.

“I was protecting her just fine!” Luke argued.

Even as he did he brought a hand to his head, almost like he was lightheaded. He looked absolutely wrecked, like all the energy really had been drained from them, and it pained her to realize that the man must have been right. Luke had gone from being able to constantly keep them invisible, practicing magic, teleporting them, to being able to do nothing and it looked like he could pass out and sleep for days if someone let him.

“Son, you need to sit-“

“Please don’t call me that.”

Her heart tore at how sincere and helpless his plead was, and she instinctively squeezed his hand.

“What’s happening?” Julie demanded, looking back up at Samuel.

Samuel pushed the coffee table back so that he could sit on it in front of them, as though to make himself purposefully appear less intimidating. His eyes were a dull, hazy, blue, his hair white and shaggy. Then her eyes found what was obviously a bullet hole in his neck, right above his collar, and her stomach churned. She brought a hand to her mouth, fighting to keep what little food she had down as she realized that was how he died. Gunshot wound during battle. 

“Every ghost under Caleb’s control has been sent to look for you,” Samuel explained, calmly. “Luckily for you two, individually many of his ghosts aren’t that strong. You were smart to take her far away, the trip alone will take everything out of most of them.”

Beside her, Luke’s face hardened and she gripped his hands, silently willing him to hold it together. Her own heart pounded so forcibly her chest ached; she was _shaking_.

“But you’re not going to hand us over?” Luke asked, uncharacteristically quiet; almost hopeful.

Samuel shook his head.

“No.”

“Are you under his control?” Julie asked.

This time, Samuel let out a harsh, cold, laugh.

“I was,” he replied, “until I got away from him, decades ago.”

Her eyes narrowed, realizing what he was implying…she was talking to possibly one of the only people who had also managed to break Caleb’s curse.

“How did you beat him?” She asked, trying to keep herself together.

Samuel studied her, long and hard, and she could tell he was trying to piece together how someone as young and innocent looking as herself got mixed up in all of this.

“I didn’t, I escaped him. He was a lot less powerful then, but it wasn’t easy. It took years before the stamp began to wear off, the further I got from him the stronger I became.”

“We’re not running for years,” Luke shot. She didn’t like how much weaker his voice sounded by the minute, how he swayed slightly on his feet. Grabbing onto him, his skin gave off an unusual burn, and it shook her to realize it was a result of the energy inside him, trying to get back out, to fight.

“No, you’re not,” Samuel agreed, getting to his feet, “because with any luck, you’re going to help me destroy him.”

 _Destroy_ fell out of him so forcefully that Julie shuddered, and suddenly she felt much more inclined to trust him.

“And why can’t use my powers again?” Luke asked. “And how can you? I thought that…”

“That you were special?” Samuel smirked. Julie squeezed Luke’s hand, willing for him to not overreact. “All ghosts possess some power, Mr. Patterson. Most never do learn how to harness it, or even realize that they have it. But when you’re left in purgatory for say… _twenty-five years_ , this power, it builds, until someone finally pulls you out to use it.”

Julie thought of Flynn telling her about signs, about how maybe her mom couldn’t directly communicate with her, but maybe she could send the guys. It had all sounded so theoretical, and truthfully there wasn’t a lot of her that sincerely thought there was a physical way her mom had sent the guys back. The idea that her mom could have sent them back, to help her, maybe even knowing they would be powerful enough to help the other side fight Caleb, filled her with hope.

“With the stamp, he has control over you and your magic. That’s why he wants as many ghosts under his control as possible. When he doesn’t have that stamp on you, your powers can get strong. Incredibly strong. The catch is that he can’t just take souls, he has to make a deal with you. He can offer so much that usually it isn’t difficult for him. You three…I have no idea how you were able to break free from him.”

“What he made with us wasn’t a deal,” Luke said through gritted teeth. He was angrier than she had seen him, any helplessness or fear lashing out instead with his fury toward Caleb, toward everything about the afterlife. “He manipulated us, and when we wouldn’t join him, he cursed us, then he tried to _make_ us join him.”

“Then he must really be threatened by you,” Samuel retorted, “but you’re still not nearly as strong as you think you are, not yet.”

Luke’s eyes narrowed at the comment, and she tightened her grip on his hand and hold her free one to his chest, begging him to not lash out anymore.

“You can help him harness his power?” Julie clarified, and Samuel nodded. “Can you help get us back to L.A.?”

He nodded again, and Luke shot:

“And give me one reason why we should trust you. Because it seems to me if you’ve been on the run from Caleb for decades that you should jump at the shot of handing us over-“

Suddenly Luke swayed, stumbling backward and Samuel held up a hand, magically lowering him down to the cloth-covered sofa. Julie cried out, rushing to him as he breathed hard, airless, breaths, his eyes glaring daggers at the other phantom. She could tell he was truly trying to muster up any last magical energy he had, and nothing was coming out. The more he tried the worse he looked like he felt, until suddenly his eyes fluttered weakly.

“Julie-“ he mumbled, before slowly lowering himself onto the sofa, reaching for her hand.

“It’s okay,” she told him, calmly as she could as she grabbed his hand again, though her heart was racing. Her eyes flashed up to Samuel. “What’s happening to him?”

“He just needs to rest. I can put him into a trance that will help him rest.”

He was looking to her for permission, she realized, and below her, Luke was fighting as much as he could to stay conscious. Moving aside, she quickly let Samuel take over and he quickly moved to gently place a hand on the back of Luke’s head. Her eyes went wide as his whole body glowed for a moment, similar to what happened when they broke the curse. At last, Luke’s eyes fell to a peaceful close.

“How do ghost even sleep?”

“We don’t,” the phantom replied, “it’s more like a slip of consciousness, and it’s usually not pleasant, unless you’ve gained good control over your conscious mind and soul.”

“They’ve been having nightmares,” she confessed.

“I bet.” There was a hint of sincerity in his voice, like he knew exactly what Luke was going through, and Julie couldn’t help but to feel relieved that they at least had some kind of guide now to lead them through this. “Does he have any idea what his unfinished business is?”

She shrugged, her heart melting as she watched Luke sleep. It hurt, realizing how much energy it had been taking from him to keep her safe. He looked so young now, so at ease, like he could sleep for weeks if they let him. Julie could feel herself being studied, and she shifted uncomfortably, reminding herself to not be too trusting of this complete stranger, even if he was from their world. Instead, she turned the tables.

“Did you ever figure out yours?” Julie asked.

For a split second there was an odd look in the phantom’s eyes, perhaps from being in hiding and not having someone to talk to for years, and definitely from lack of trust.

“We’ll give him a few hours rest,” Samuel announced, “then we’ll need to get started.”

Guilt ate at her as she gazed down at the teenaged phantom, her hand brushing gently over his face. She couldn’t understand how _Luke_ was having to go through this, and she knew he knew just as little about how they were supposed to defeat Caleb as she did. He had been through so much already in life, and in death; it just wasn’t a fate he deserved.

“What’s it going to take for us to beat Caleb?” She asked cautiously, certain that it wasn’t an answer she was ready to hear.

The phantom gazed down at Luke with an empathy that shook her.

_“Everything.”_

The flames were hot against his skin, dancing angrily all around him as Alex flailed his arms about, desperate to keep them contained. Caleb laughed from somewhere beyond them, and it shook him so much that it was like the energy inside him finally got it together, finally able to collect the heat in his hands, threw out both of his arms, and send the rings of fire hauling toward Caleb. But the magician simply waved his hand in the air, sending the flames first up toward the ceiling, and Alex flinched, hiding his arms over his face, expecting hot flames to descend down on him, but the flames disappeared in thin air.

He hated himself for how weak he was.

“We’ve been at this for nearly two days, Alexander,” Caleb sneered as he strode toward him. “Your powers aren’t going to get anywhere as long as your fear stands in the way.”

 _It’s only been two days?_ He thought miserably.

“In case you’ve forgotten, you’re holding me captive here and freaking torturing me with ghost magic. So yeah, I’m just a bit afraid!”

His lips turning up into a cruel grin, Caleb knelt down beside him so that they were eye level, and Alex shuddered. The phantom reached out for his chin, gripping it roughly, forcing him to look him in the eye and somehow, having Caleb’s flesh on him was just so much more terrifying than facing his magic.

“ _In case you have forgotten_ , I own your soul,” Caleb shot. “You are not captive here. Here is where you belong now, and I’m trying to get you to realize how powerful you are.”

His chest felt like it shattered, and he couldn’t help but to let out a pathetic whimper, as the panic behind the truth of Caleb’s statement hit him. But he wasn’t going to let Caleb see him crumble. At last, he had the strength to lift up one of his hands from the floor, and though it felt like lead he managed to grip it tight, pulling it in the air as he did. Caleb let out a surprised cry as he was thrown back, hitting the floor hard and Alex’s own hand didn’t even shake as he kept squeezing, sending the magician’s arm bending bad at an ungodly angle that made even the drummer a bit nauseous, but he didn’t stop because finally, he seemed to be in control.

…until his own hand was forcibly released. He looked up to find the hand seemed to be perfectly fine. Caleb shot toward him through the air and Alex panicked, hating himself for thinking that might have actually done anything. Nothing could beat Caleb. He still didn’t understand the point of it all. When the phantom raised a hand Alex scrambled back, desperately crouching into the fetal position on the floor, trying to protect himself.

_“Please don’t.”_

His pathetic pleads only made the phantom laugh again, but instead of hurting him a gentle hand patted his shoulder.

“That’s what I mean,” Caleb replied casually. Alex peeled open an eye, feeling like he was breathing hard, chest heaving. There was no more strength in him to fight as the phantom pulled him up so that they sat side by side on the floor, and he summoned a bottle of water for him. Alex reluctantly accepted. “Your power _should_ be _incredible_. You’re not yet convinced of that. You’re still afraid of being hurt, when we both know these are phantom pains.”

“But magical pain hurts, right?” Alex asked. “This is actually real.”

Caleb only shrugged, like the boy beside him wasn’t in complete shambles from pain and injury.

“It might be real to you in spirit form, but your actual body still lays six feet underground.”

Alex blinked, and his stomach knotted as he realized that he really hadn’t been thinking of it like that. Despite the number of times he had to remind himself _I’m dead I’m dead I’m dead I’m dead_ to remember that Caleb couldn’t actually hurt him, he had never imagined his own corpse, rotting away in a coffin underground.

It was an unsettling feeling.

A hand was held out to him, and Alex bit back a wave of nausea, knowing that he was being asked to go again.

“One more time,” Caleb announced, almost sounding apologetic as he did. But for the magician, this fighting seemed to be nothing but sport. “Let’s make a wager on it. If you beat me, you can visit your friend at midnight. I want you to see what Reginald thinks of my little game, see if he’s ready to join us.”

The drummer felt a hitch in his throat at the very thought of freedom, even if just for an hour, and he was certain that there was enough of _him_ left inside that he would have the will to make sure Reggie wouldn’t give in. Instead of Caleb going after him himself. At the least, Alex could hope to convince them to not even dare to try to come after him, because there was no way in hell (literally) that he would ever risk them going through the torture he had.

He stuck out his hand and let himself be pulled up.

Movie night, it turned out, was exactly what the doctor ordered. Two movies in, and Reggie had a feeling Ray had coerced him into joining movie night not only because of Flynn- who was actually quieter than usual as she sat beside Reggie on the sofa while Julie’s father took the armchair- but because it really did help to take his own mind off things. Plus, rest seemed to be an important part of this whole magic thing, and he did feel stronger after hours of using no magic except to make himself visible; and every now and then he flickered out, just to give himself a break, and the other two seemed to understand.

Before the next film could start Flynn tapped his shoulder and nodded her head toward Ray, who was finally fast asleep for the first time since the Orpheum. They exchanged satisfied smiles, feeling accomplished.

“I may or may not have crushed some Benadryl into his tea,” Flynn whispered.

Flynn, he decided at that moment, was as much as a badass as Ray. She checked her phone for the umpteenth time, only to find no new updates, and anxiety flashed in her eyes when she saw how late it was.

“I have to go home,” she sighed. “I can’t believe I’m just supposed to go to school tomorrow.”

“Hey, maybe I can forge a doctor’s note for you too!”

Flynn shook her head.

“Who’s going to believe that me and Julie both happened to get the flu the Monday after her Orpheum show?” She pointed out; then she grinned. “We’ll give it a few days, then we can act like I caught it from her.”

He mirrored her grin.

Then it hit him: Flynn needed to leave. Of course, it was only ever a temporary escape from whatever Caleb had been planning today.

“I want to try doing the protection thing on you,” he spoke up. Flynn stared at him doubtfully and he promised: “I feel a lot stronger, I know I can do this. Here…”

He held out both of her his hands, palms up, and she drew in a shaky breath before agreeing to take them. There was this new sixth sense inside him, like he knew when his powers were awakening and working, and he could feel the energy buzzing in his fingers as their hands locked.

“Did it work?” She asked.

“Yeah, promise,” he said with a smile, “you’re safe, but at least let me poof you back home?”

He assumed she lived close to the Molinas to get around without someone needing to drive her, but it was still late enough that he didn’t like the idea of her walking home by herself, and not only because of Caleb.

“If we can agree to never call it ‘poofing me back home’ again, deal.”

Once again, Reggie offered her his hand, and in seconds they were standing in front of a house similar style to the Molina’s.

“Woah!” Flynn cried out, clutching his hand to keep her balance as she took in what just happened. “That was _weird_!”

“I know, right?” He grinned, then he stopped, studying her. She really had been through a trauma that day, he knew she was worried sick about Julie, and probably still worried about how effectively the spell would keep her safe. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, I’m _fine_ ,” she insisted, throwing him a smile that looked sincere, but he had a feeling Flynn was a pretty good actress. His concern grew as she hesitated, like she didn’t quite want to leave him yet. “Hey, Reggie?”

“Yeah?”

Instead of answering, she through her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tight for a long moment. Something fluttered inside his soul, a feeling that made him realize _I like this_ , and in a way that was different from when Julie was first able to hug him.

“Thanks,” Flynn whispered.

“It’s nothing,” he replied casually; like he hadn’t just protected her with a magic spell.

Just when he couldn’t feel any more overwhelmed, as she broke apart from him she leaned up, stealing a quick kiss to his cheek. It was friendly, like an extra little thank you, yet his whole body warmed instantly at the slight touch. She was grinning madly, like she knew exactly what the innocent cheek kiss did to him.

“Night!” She called, eyes twinkling for a split second before she broke into an all-out run up to her house.

How Reggie didn’t absolutely melt into the ground from embarrassment and emotion coursing through him, he had no idea. Before disappearing back home, he took a second to makes sure he tried to put the same type of protection on Flynn’s house as he did Julie’s. Just for good measure. When he poofed away again back to the studio, and he couldn’t help but to do a little celebratory dance, jumping around for joy at all he had managed to do today. He saved the studio, did three protection spells, and earned himself a handful of hugs and a kiss on the cheek. From an actual girl.

Of course, because nothing could stay good for too long for him, just as he was leaping off the sofa from where he had been jumping around a familiar scream pierced the air…

…and Alex came crashing down from nowhere, falling limply into his arms.

They both screamed as Reggie lost his balance, leaving them both collapsing on the floor. Reggie blinked, trying to figure out what was going on, but then his eyes found the state his friend was in. The drummer groaned as he rolled over, revealing a tired face full of new cuts and bruises, his lip was split, there were rips in his jeans as though from falling too much.

“Alex?” He called gently, stunned.

His friend’s eyes fluttered opened, unfocused and weak.

Then Alex smiled.

“I won,” he croaked. His throat sounded so dry, and it scared Reggie how real his tortured state looked. Swallowing nervously, he cradled Alex in his arms, forcing himself to remember _not real not real not real_.

“You…won?”

“Yeah,” Alex breathed. “I beat him…I hadn’t done that before.”

Reggie’s skin crawled, and Alex _laughed_ , so cold, so broken, so not him, and his soul sank. With another groan he sat up, and Reggie helped him so they could sit up on the sofa; the other phantom practically fell over against him, settling on leaning against him for support.

“You don’t look like you won anything! What is he doing to you?”

The body leaning against him shuffled, letting out a sigh as he sat up, just resting his back against the cushions. His eyes closed, as though he was relishing in the feeling of being comfortable for once, safe, and Reggie’s non-beating heart sank.

“He’s making me fight him, with magic,” Alex admitted, avoiding Reggie’s eyes and his immediate, furious, reaction at wrong that was. “He’s forcing me to realize my ghost powers. He said if I could beat him, he’d let me out for a while.”

Alex was typically a pretty non-confrontational person, always the first one to pull Bobby and Luke away from a fight, even if they were trying to stand up for him. That anyone would try to force a fight out of him, would hurt him to this extent like it was all just a game, frankly, pissed him off.

“That’s messed up!” Reggie declared. “Alex…that is _so_ messed up.”

“Yeah.”

What else was there to say? He could only wrap his arms around his best friend, just holding him there for a moment, knowing it’s what Alex would need. The drummer let out a single, horrible, choked sob, but didn’t let himself break down, and Reggie pulled him closer.

“I’m going back there with you,” he announced.

Shaking, Alex peeled himself away, desperately shaking his head.

“No! _No_ Reggie, you’re not! That’s literally what he wants!”

“I’m not just going to let you be held there as Caleb’s magical punching bag!” He shot. “And I’m not going to let him keep coming after our friends.”

“Wait…what?”

Reggie fell silent as Alex’s eyes went wide.

He chewed on his lip, hesitating as he quickly tried to decide how much he should tell him. He knew how Alex’s anxiety worked, he knew that telling him too much detail would only worry him needlessly and it was better to only tell him not only what he needed to know, but only things he could actually, rationally, do something about.

“What did he do?” Alex demanded, then his eyes lit up in horrific realization. “He told me he wants to know what you think of his _game_.”

The bassist tensed, and he tried to hide his disappointment when he realized of course, Caleb would send Alex here on a mission.

“He was here, this morning. Flynn was here looking for Julie, and he gave her a warning, for _me_. He…blew up the studio, with magic. I knew he was challenging me…I was able to fix it. With magic.”

He mumbled the last part under his breath, quickly, looking away as Alex’s wild eyes stared at him, infuriated with everything that was going on while he was being held.

“Is Flynn okay?!”

“Yeah, she’s fine, it’s all fine,” he promised.

His eyes wondered back to up Alex’s bruised face; he could easily see that his friend really did look like he was in actual pain, even if it was just his mind playing tricks on him. That’s when he noticed that Alex was clutching his left wrist, and a sour feeling flooded him when he saw that his hand looked completely mangled, painted with a thick black-blue bruise. Both of his hands, Reggie realized, were covered in smoke.

“It’s still not real, right?” Reggie whispered.

Shaking his head, Alex shuddered and simply let his head fall against Reggie’s shoulder.

“Magic leaves a mark,” he mumbled, telling Reggie all he needed to know. Alex forced a small, pained, smile. “I broke his arm first, you know, with my mind. After I tried to set him on fire for like the dozenth time. So this was just…payback. He was able to fix his, but I can’t…”

Reggie’s eyes went wide. It had only been two days and Alex was already _that_ powerful? The drummer looked ill as he stared at his injured hand, obviously panicking over the idea of not being able to play, even if he wasn’t able to right now. Swallowing nervously, Reggie took the wrist gently, feeling the energy in his own hands buzz as the familiar feeling of confidence came back to him.

He closed his eyes, breathing slow, hoping that there might be some way. Flynn was injured earlier, and touching her didn’t fix anything but if Caleb could heal magic by magic, and this was a magic injury…

“Reggie,” Alex breathed, his voice raising with surprised. The bassist’s eyes opened, and he was elated to see the bones didn’t look as deformed. The bruising was still there, but Alex was able to flex it.

“Sweet,” he murmured, a smile escaping across his face.

His friend just stared, trying to process this new change, clearly wondering how in the world Reggie had learned to do _anything_ like that. Deep down, Reggie almost didn’t find himself too shocked that he seemed to have powers of protection. It was all he ever wanted, as Living Reggie, to protect his mom as much as he could, to be there for the guys. It was all he wanted now, to protect the guys and Julie, and her family. He had been hurt so much in life and learned to hide his injuries well; of course, in death, with ghost powers, his subconscious mind would quickly latch on to this new ability to heal.

“Is there anything else?” Reggie asked softly, his eyes finding the bruising on his face and the way Alex was slightly hunched over, like something was wrong with his chest.

“Nah, I’m good.” It was a feeble attempt at a lie, but he knew Alex and knew if something was really wrong, he would let him help. Their eyes met, neither of them sure of what to think or say. At last, Alex confessed quietly: “It doesn’t matter what he does, I’m still dead. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like I’m me anymore, I’m just this weird, magical _thing_.”

He sounded so helplessly that it crushed Reggie’s soul. He was pretty sure they had all been in some serious denial when they first came back as ghosts but never realized it. In so many ways they felt just the same. Maybe they were damaged but their soul, their spirit had just as much fight as ever. The last thing he wanted was for Alex to lose that will.

“But you’re still you. You’re the same Alex who used to bake us cupcakes on our birthdays.”

The smallest of smiles peered from the corners of Alex’s lips, and a bright glow illuminated in his haunted eyes.

“I did make good cupcakes, didn’t I?”

“Dude, I’d give anything to have one of those cupcakes right now.”

They shared a laugh, and for a split second it truly felt like hie had his friend back.

“You’re still the same Reggie who literally walked right off the stage that one night while you were bouncing around so much during our set,” Alex teased.

“And Luke just jumped down there with me and we finished the song from the floor, like we rehearsed it that way?” Reggie grinned. He hadn’t thought about that night in _ages_. “That was right before that time the van ran out of gas coming home, and Bobby and I walked an hour on the freeway in the middle of the night to the gas station and back while you guys stayed with our stuff, which I still don’t think was fair by the way…wait-!”

His eyes lit up in horror as he realized why _Luke and Alex_ got to be the ones who stayed behind, and Alex just laughed at him that he never caught onto that, looking just slightly embarrassed.

“I told you guys to stop for gas at least three times! It was only fair that I got to stay behind. Luke was just there as an added bonus…for safety.”

Reggie rolled his eyes and sighed.

“I miss Luke,” he admitted.

“Yeah…me too. I’m so worried about him and Julie.”

“He sounded okay on the phone earlier,” Reggie offered. “Oh! I could get Ray’s phone, we could call him. He’d want to know you’re okay.”

Maybe okay was a relative term right now, but he expected Alex to be at least a little more on board than frantically shaking his head and holding up a hand to warn him to not go there.

“I think the less I know about where they are the better,” Alex explained helplessly, “in case Caleb…you know…”

 _Tries to force it out of him,_ Reggie realized, feeling ill.

Then it hit him, something Alex that hadn’t filled him in on, and Reggie felt bad for not asking:

“Wait, how is Willie? Is he okay? Did the deal even work?”

Alex grimaced.

“Kind of,” he replied, with that familiar tinge of guilt in his voice, “Caleb’s keeping him there with me, as a hostage. You know, to make sure I don’t do anything stupid…like not come back when he lets me out. He’s keeping us in a dark room.”

Oh.

The drummer drew in a deep breath, squirming uncomfortably where he sat as he carefully tried to pick his words, then finally blurted out:

“Willie and I kind of kissed.”

Of all the things Alex had to catch him up on, that was possibly the last tidbit he expected to hear, but genuine happiness for his friend flooded him.

“Hey, congrats!” He replied, patting Alex a couple of times on his back. “And here I was excited because Flynn kissed me on the cheek.”

“Awww, that’s so sweet,” Alex shot sarcastically, sitting up at last as he exclaimed: “We full on made out! Multiple times!”

“Well…that’s a good thing, right?” Reggie asked. “You like Willie, like…like him, like him, right?”

“Yeah, but we’re _ghosts_. Do ghosts even have relationships? Should I even be concerned about dating, when we’re supposed to be here trying to crossover?”

“Dude, if in this after life Caleb can open up a night club and take people’s souls and _magic_ exists then I think it’s okay for you to date.”

Alex looked at least a little comforted, the tension noticeably released in his shoulders, and he stared at his hands as he softly confessed:

“I think I’m falling in love with him.”

He looked so shaken at the idea, so overwhelmed, but Reggie could only beam with pride for his friend.

“I’m really happy for you.”

“Yeah, well it’s _terrifying_ ,” Alex whimpered. “I’ve never felt this way, not even with Luke, and I’ve only known Willie for a few weeks!”

“You and Luke had only been together a few days when I walked in on you guys making out,” he mumbled.

“The rules are completely different when the guy has already been your best friend for most of your life! This is like…I’m falling so hard, so fast that it terrifies me. I don’t know what to do. I don’t understand how I can have feelings for him when I don’t even own my soul.”

He really wasn’t sure why he was being asked for advice, maybe just from being the default person who happened to be there. He was pretty sure the guys all ran laps around him when it came to his pathetic lack of relationship experience.

But he knew his friend, and he knew the kind of thing that Alex needed to hear.

“You guys really care about each other. Maybe you haven’t known each other a long time, but you have really good judgement. Except for those six months you were with Luke. Other than that, you have really good judgement. And for the record, I think your soul is still in there somewhere. I’m fully onboard team Willex.”

“We are _not_ going to be called that…but thanks. I do care about him…he has a really pretty voice too. He’s been singing to me.”

“That’s adorable,” Reggie smirked.

“He sang me the entire _Joshua Tree_ album earlier,” Alex confessed with a sloppy, almost drunken, grin on his face. “He says that music is connected to our soul, so it gives us strength.”

“Questionable choice, but makes sense.”

“He could sing me the phone book and I’d listen.”

Grinning, Reggie patted his shoulder.

“Man, you are way beyond head over heels for him,” he teased.

“I know…I’m so screwed.”

With an exhausted sigh, Alex leaned his head back against the kitchen island, and Reggie noticed his eyes drifting to the clock on the microwave.

“We’ll get you out of there,” Reggie told him quietly.

“You can’t. You guys need to stay as far away from Caleb as possible.”

Then Reggie realized:

“I have the house and Flynn under this protection spell from him. Maybe I can do the same for you?”

“It doesn’t work like that! You’ve been doing this kind of ghost magic for like two seconds, do you really think anything you do is going to cancel out how strong his hold is on me? He owns me, Reggie. It’s taking everything in me to not force myself to bring you back to him, and I think most of that’s your spell, so kudos for that.”

He was sure Alex hadn’t meant to come across that harshly, but it still stung. It still scared him, and it clearly scared Ray, because now he was doubting the strength of any spell he had tried. 

“Then I can’t let you go back there!” He shot, desperate.

“I told you, he has Willie! I’m sorry…I’m sorry I made all of this so hard for us.”

Reggie’s soul melted; he knew his friend was in an impossible situation. Instead, he simply scooped Alex into a hug, wrapping his harms tightly around him and letting the phantom rest his head against his shoulder.

“We don’t blame you for anything,” he promised. “We’re working on our ghost powers. We’re _strong_ , Alex, we’ll be able to fight Caleb.”

They broke a part but Alex hovered close, his voice low and broken as he pleaded:

“I don’t want Caleb to know how strong you are. The more power you guys have the more he can take. He’s _so_ strong, Reggie.”

“Yeah, but with _all_ of us against him?” He pointed out; a shiver went up his spine, like the power within him agreed. “It’s going to be epic.”

“I don’t think that we’re just facing Caleb,” Alex stated softly. Reggie stared at him, panic returning as he realized _wait, there’s more_. “Sometimes it’s like…sometimes it’s like it’s just Caleb and sometimes…he’s something worse. I think there’s something else out there, controlling him.”

“Okay… _that’s_ terrifying.”

“Yeah. Sometimes he acts like he just wants to take my power, and sometimes it’s like he’s teaching me to fight something stronger out there, something that he wants me to be able to fight.”

“Whatever it is, we can take it.”

Shaking his head, Alex looked like he wanted to keep arguing with him but didn’t have the strength. He closed his eyes briefly and Reggie rested his head against the blonde’s, just giving him a moment.

“Look,” Alex spoke up, “if you talk to Luke…make sure he knows that magic has consequences. He’s not indestructible.”

“Luke thought he was indestructible enough in life,” Reggie pointed out, “you try telling him he’s not indestructible as a magical ghost!”

The tiniest, most heartbroken smile peered at the corners of Alex’s lips; he looked like he was doing a very good job at not having an all-out panic attack at the idea of forcing himself to go back to Caleb.

“Tell Luke I miss him, Julie too. Oh, and tell Ray I made sure Caleb won’t hurt Carlos. Just be safe, Reg, please. Please don’t come after me.”

“Alex-“

It was all he got out before Alex was suddenly just gone.

Everything hit him all at once, how high the stakes were…and everything felt like it was riding on him.

And he just felt so small, so hopeless, and he knew if he fed into that feeling too long, he would let it take right over him. Instead, he disappeared back into the studio, focusing on the feeling like adrenaline that flooded through him, desperately pushing down all of the fear and pain. He felt motivated, he was curious. Even if the powers of protection came most naturally to him, he knew there was more in there, more that could help him fight. Reggie threw his hands out a few times, remembering Alex talking about _fire_ , thinking that it sounded easy enough to muster if he had already done so that many times against Caleb. Though nothing happened, as he grew more desperate it was like he could feel heat from the energy inside him buzz and he breathed out, letting the anxiety go and instead simply focusing.

The next time he threw out his hand a series of thin, flickering, sparks flew out.

A wicked grin crossed his face.

When Alex was pulled back into the Ghost Club, he was back in the ballroom, but this time Caleb was casually sitting at a table, eating a late dinner.

Caleb looked up and _smiled_.

Like he hadn’t just beaten the daylights out of him an hour before with magic…like he hadn’t attacked Flynn that morning.

“Tell me, how was our favorite bassist?”

He didn’t care about the consequences. He was going to make Caleb pay.

Instead of answering, Alex shot both of his hands out, not even feeling the pain from the injured one as he shot everything he had at Caleb. The magic that shot out of him was different than anything he had done before, this was angry streaks of black fire, sent straight into Caleb’s chest. The table exploded, the phantom flew back, and Alex wasted no time; he didn’t teleport but he _flew_ at him- which he hadn’t exactly been able to do before, but he didn’t allow himself any time to stress about that right now. He was shaking with fury, the energy inside him felt out of control but he made himself focus, harnessing it instead of feeling overwhelmed.

“He’s _never_ joining you,” Alex shot, “and _this_ is for Flynn!”

Every ounce of hate he had ever felt, all the love he had for his friends who were in danger because of him, because of this monster who was on the floor now, was coming out. He managed to hold Caleb down with sheer force of power, but for good measure pressed down hard on the magician’s chest. The phantom actually groaned at the force, and Alex kept at it, sending the black fire into him, mixed with the red-orange sparks, until finally, Caleb lifted up off the ground just slightly, arching up, his eyes glazed black…

…and some sort of golden-white streaks rose out of Caleb, right toward Alex…the drummer’s eyes went wide but he was frozen, unable to do anything as the streaks of light were transferred from Caleb to him.

As they hit, he felt the energy inside him grow, it was like it was becoming _more_ …

But just as soon as it began Caleb fell back down to the floor, threw his arm out. Alex cried out as it felt like someone slashed him in the face and he flew back, his head hitting the floor _hard_. The energy was cut off from him immediately, but he could still feel the effects of the small amount he got dancing under his skin. Rolling over, he tried to let his body adjust. Dark spots filled his vision and he blinked them away to find Caleb lowering himself to the floor beside him. His skin had an odd grey tint to it, his eyes were back to normal, weak.

“Wha-what was that?” Alex demanded. His entire body was shaking with the aftershocks of using so much magic. “What just happened between us?”

“What just happened was proved that you are exactly as useful as I hoped you would be. It took a roundabout way to get you there, but you were _extraordinary_.”

Without asking permission, he took the hand that had previously been injured and examined it; he glanced up to Alex, speaking softer than normal as he asked:

“You were able to heal it?”

Alex fought to avoid his eyes, pushing away the nagging voice in his head trying to get him to tell the truth about Reggie’s newfound healing ability.

“Reginald has a protection spell against me, I can feel it,” Caleb announced. “It’s quite impressive. Of course, there are easy ways around it, as you have just proven. How are you feeling?”

His mouth fell open but he stopped, confused about why Caleb sounded like he sincerely cared and not willing to lend any trust whatsoever. Even if he wanted to tell the truth about how he was feeling, Alex didn’t know where to start. His head was spinning with all of the new developments, trying to process what just happened between him and Caleb. There was a longing sadness in his chest leftover from how good it felt to get to talk to Reggie again. He was scared for his friends, afraid that he had no idea how big this game really was. And at the same time he felt sore and nauseous from the efforts to fight Caleb. He wanted nothing more than to be tossed back to the dark room, with Willie, and rest for as many hours as he could.

He was _exhausted_ , that’s how he was.

“I’m…I just…I don’t understand what all of this is for.”

The phantom studied him for a long moment, his eyes dark and glimmering, looking for understanding and Alex was certain he was right that something was controlling Caleb, something even the phantom himself was afraid of.

“I have a final offer for you,” the magician finally announced, ignoring him.

“I’m not interested.”

“-oh I think you will be,” Caleb retorted, “and it’s not so much of an offer as it is that I own your soul, and we’ll call this the first task.”

“What is it?” He asked miserably.

“You’re going to help me with my unfinished business.”

Alex startled; he had never even considered that even Caleb would have unfinished business. He was, after all, the ghost of someone and had, according to Reggie, died a horrific death. Caleb was studying Alex with interest, and he had a feeling the phantom had never once told anyone what exactly his unfinished business might be- or that he had any interest in completing it.

“You want to crossover? Can you even do that?”

Caleb’s eyes flashed away suddenly, avoiding him, and everything clicked.

If something was controlling Caleb- if he was _possessed_ \- if he could fight enough or offer enough to whoever it was then he could get the devil's curse off of him. Then, theoretically, if he could complete his unfinished business, he would be free to crossover.

“I’m not helping you with your unfinished business just so you can hand me and my friends over to the devil and save yourself,” he stated, his voice low but steady.

There was a flash of surprise in Caleb’s surprised, and a flicker of cold-blooded _fear_ that was masked quickly with a layer of icy glass. And then, his voice small and grave, Caleb announced:

“With any luck, you four will defeat him too.”

Their eyes were glued together, Caleb warning him to not react, as though they might summon the devil himself if Alex demanded much more from him.

“What’s your unfinished business?” He asked weakly, dreading the response.

“I’m sure you’ve heard by now how I died?” Caleb asked, just as casually as if they were talking about the story of his first job.

“Reggie said it was a trick gone horribly wrong,” Alex admitted.

A wicked grin crossed the phantom’s face, as though he was pleased that the boys knew exactly who his living self was.

“The trick didn’t just go wrong,” Caleb replied, his eyes suddenly distant, clearly reliving his own death and for a moment, Alex felt like he was intruding. “It was a setup. I was murdered, and my murderer is still out there. He’s just resurfaced, after years of hiding from me which I take to mean he’s ready for a fight, and you’re going to help me defeat him.”

The energy inside him quivered; eyes wide with shock, Alex remembered him teasing Willie about Stockholm syndrome and begged himself to not get too invested.

“I’m not helping you murder someone!” He shot. “I thought you just wanted to take our power, not make us kill people for you!”

Caleb’s chilling laughter echoed around the empty ballroom again.

“This is all part of the game- this is just a little…bonus adventure. Thanks to some new developments. Don’t worry, you don’t have to murder anyone, you just have to help me destroy his soul. Trust me, you have an invested interest.”

“Why?”

Caleb’s grin was just too menacing now; everything was clearly coming together for him.

“Because he has Julie and Luke.”

Alex’s world screeched to a halt. Dozens of images of his friends, trapped in some similar other hell hole, being tortured, in trouble, scared, flooded his mind. Reggie and Ray had clearly no idea either was even in trouble. And suddenly, the game had gotten even bigger than Alex could ever imagine it would be.

“I’m sure by now you’ve realized that we thrive off the energy of the souls we collect?” The phantom spoke up.

He shuddered at the use of ‘we’, and he felt even more pathetic for how naively they just waltzed into the Ghost Club that first night.

If Caleb did want to complete his unfinished business and needed something tempting enough to offer to be freed of his own curse, wouldn't a whole band full of ghosts who could could be seen by lifers, who were supposedly so extraordinarily powerful and could easily keep the Ghost Club going if so directed, be the perfect bargaining chips?

With a snap of Caleb’s fingers, the ballroom burst back to life, and Alex jumped as chairs appeared all around him and ghost arrived one by one, getting the venue ready. None of them seemed to even be aware he was standing there; they all looked so _defeated_. Alex was back in the pink suit, it was suffocating, and everything was happening way too fast. The flurry of activity around him was nauseating, and anxiety was spiraling inside him on overdrive.

“You’re one of us now,” Caleb stated with a smile as he stepped forward, straightening his bowtie for him. “All of that energy we take in from the show, you’ll collect on. And you will need the strength, trust me.”

The drummer was left reeling as Caleb patted his shoulder and spun on his heels. Before he could waltz away, the magician suddenly stopped.

“Oh, you will need these-"

A pair of drumsticks, not his, the one died with, but a pair with the Hollywood Ghost Club logo, appeared in Caleb’s hands. Alex felt miserable as he was forced to take them, not even bothering to ask how he was supposed to know the music.

“You’ll be fine,” Caleb assured him with a wink.

As the phantom strode away, leaving Alex behind with more questions than ever, he didn’t feel reassured at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Say it with me...DUN DUN DUN!
> 
> And yes, this fic comes complete with a Caleb backstory idea, which I hope you will like! 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed the update and all the new developments! Thank you so much for reading, I'm glad you guys are liking the story so far! I appreciate all the kudos and comments, I love hearing what you guys think.


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